Portugal announces UK flight ban
Portugal has decided to "stop" flights to and from the UK in order to reduce the risk of contagion based on the new variant of the coronavirus, António Costa announced.
Despite the worsening pandemic, borders will remain open within the European area, the Portuguese prime minister announced at the end of the European Council meeting. Portugal has, however, decided to suspend flights to the United Kingdom in order to stop the spread of the new variant of the coronavirus on national territory.
“In all the Member States, [there has been] great concern about the development of this pandemic, in particular, the growth driven by the new variant, known as the British variant, especially in countries with closer relations with the United Kingdom, as is the case with us,” António Costa said.
In response to this situation, the Portuguese government has decided “to stop all flights to the UK and from the UK to Portugal, starting at 12 am next Saturday,” in order to reduce the risk of contagion from the British variant.
As for the borders with other European countries, it has been decided that they will remain open. “The conclusion we have drawn is that closing internal borders is not an effective measure for controlling the pandemic,” the prime minister explained.
