--- title: "Governments Block Travel to Prevent Spread of New COVID Strain" description: "A new strain of the coronavirus is spreading in the UK. To stop it from reaching the mainland, a number of countries have cut themselves off." date: "2020-12-21" modified: "2020-12-21" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/governments-block-travel-prevent-spread-new-covid-strain" categories: - "Developments" - "Health & Medicine" tags: - "coronavirus" - "covid19" - "virus" --- # Governments Block Travel to Prevent Spread of New COVID Strain ![A new strain of the coronavirus is spreading in the UK. To stop it from reaching the mainland, a number of countries have cut themselves off.]() *\Image: Pikist\* A mysterious and potentially more contagious strain of the coronavirus is spreading fast in the United Kingdom. To stop it from reaching the mainland, a number of countries have already cut themselves off completely from the UK. Most of central Europe has shut down UK connections over the last few days. Even [Israel, Canada](), Hong Kong, and Saudi Arabia have put a temporary hold on any travel to and from the country. The UK is in a sorry state as a result. Thousands of trucks are stranded on roads leading to the country's ports, as [*The New York Times* reports](). Industries will have to manage shifting food supplies. Prime minister Boris Johnson is now setting up crisis talks to figure out how to handle the rapidly changing situation. There are still a lot of things we don't know about the new mutation. We know the strain known as N501Y contains 23 different changes, most of them associated with how the virus invades the cells, and may spread up to 70 percent faster than earlier strains, [*The Wall Street Journal* reports](). We also don't know if the existing vaccines, which have just started to roll out, will be able to protect us from the new strain. But according to experts, it's likely that it will. "There is a strong belief here that the vaccine, as it exists today... will have effectiveness in warding off infection from this new strain in England, in addition to the old strain that we’ve been contending with for months now," Vin Gupta, assistant professor at the University of Washington, [told *CNBC*](). At least, that's in the near term. Gupta didn't rule out that in the long term, vaccines may need to be updated just like yearly flu vaccines to account for other coronavirus strains. Most importantly, experts said, there's no cause for panic. "The bottom line is if you are at home and you are hearing this news, it does not change what we do in terms of precautions as individuals that can reduce the spread of this virus," Vivek Murthy, who is being considered to be the net US Surgeon General by president-elect Joe Biden, [told *NBC*]() over the weekend. ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()