The new British travel ban applies to all people arriving either directly or indirectly from Denmark, and came into force early on Saturday morning. British nationals and residents will be granted entry, but will have to undergo a 14-day quarantine.
On Friday, the British authorities excluded Denmark from the travel corridor list, meaning passengers arriving from the country could no longer skip a period of self-isolation after touching down on British soil.
The decision follows the discovery of a new strain of Covid-19 that has spread across mink farms in Denmark and already infected some humans. The State Serum Institute, which deals with infectious diseases in the country, has identified 214 people with the new variant of the coronavirus.
The country has decided to cull the entire herd of mink, which number an estimated 15 to 17 million, as a precaution. Denmark is one of the world’s largest producers of mink furs. Danish scientists believe the new strain may have increased resistance to future Covid-19 vaccines. The emergence of the new strain is also being investigated by the World Health Organization.
