In the late hours of today, Sunday 20, Argentinian, Chilean and Colombian governments issued bans for flights departing to or arriving from the United Kingdom, citing concerns related to the new COVID-19 strain that has been deemed as significantly more contagious.
The three countries are the latest additions to a growing list of airspaces that are cutting ties with the UK, and they are not likely to be the last.
Argentina has suspended all inbound/outbound flights to UK starting tonight, and the crew and passengers of the flight that is already ongoing and is expected to arrive on Monday morning will observe a compulsory 7-day quarantine. Current requisites for entering the country already mandated a negative RT-PCR test and medical insurance with COVID-19 coverage.
In the case of Chile, the ban will be enforced on Tuesday, December 22 and, besides the flight suspension, it will prohibit non-resident foreigners to enter the country while mandating a 14-day quarantine for Chilean nationals and foreign residents who have been in United Kingdom territory in the last 14 days. This measure is temporary and after two weeks it has been set to be reevaluated.
Colombia has taken similar measures -14-day quarantine for all arrivals and flight suspension-but it extends the quarantine to anyone that has arrived from United Kingdom in the last 8 days, as it was announced by Colombia’s President Iván Duque.
“We take these measures not to generate panic or concerns. We are trying to prevent and enforce a better epidemiological control”, Duque added.
