MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th December, 2020) Russia's flagship carrier Aeroflot told Sputnik on Sunday it had no information on possible suspension of air traffic with the United Kingdom in the wake of the discovery of a new, more infectious coronavirus strain there.
Throughout the day, EU countries began unilaterally closing borders with the UK in a bid to prevent the import of the new strain, which is believed to transmit 70-percent faster than the original coronavirus.
"Decisions to suspend or resume the air traffic are in the remit of the government's COVID-19 response center. We have no information about any such decision at this point," Aeroflot spokesman Mikhail Demin said.
Earlier in the day, Russia's COVID-19 response center said it was monitoring the situation in the UK.
The Netherlands already banned flights from the UK, and Germany will do so starting on midnight. Belgium and Italy will reportedly shut down the border shortly, too, while the Austrian authorities are considering halting the flights to and from not only the UK but also South Africa, where the new strain was detected as well.
