LONDON: The British government has banned freight drivers who have travelled through Denmark over the past 14 days and aren’t residents of the UK from entering England, as it tightened travel restrictions from a country witnessing widespread coronavirus outbreaks at mink farms.

Under the new rules that came into force on Sunday, passenger planes and ships travelling from Denmark, and carrying accompanying freight, also won’t be allowed to dock. Freight drivers had been exempt from the ban.

From Saturday, British nationals or residents returning to the UK directly or indirectly from Denmark were required to quarantine themselves with other members of their household until two weeks passed since they were last in Denmark.

Non-British national or resident travellers who had been in or transited through Denmark in the preceding 14 days would be denied entry.

“Given the significant unknowns regarding the new mutation of Covid-19 originating in Denmark we have moved quickly to protect our citizens and prevent the spread of the virus to the UK,” the Department for Transport said in a statement.

The travel ban and extra requirements will be reviewed after a week, it added.

Taking a safety first approach, the Danish government has ordered the cull of all 15 million minks bred at 1,139 mink farms and has put more than a quarter million Danes in a northern region of the country into lockdown. It has said a mutation of the virus has been found in 12 people infected by minks.

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2020