UPDATE 2 - EU agrees on banning flight from southern Africa

ADDS EU BAN ON FLIGHTS FROM SOUTHERN AFRICA

By Agnes Szucs

BRUSSELS (AA) - EU countries agreed Friday to suspend all flights from the southern African region to stem the spread of the most recent coronavirus variant.

“EU member states agreed on the need to activate the emergency brake and impose temporary restrictions on all travel into EU from southern Africa,” the Slovenian government assuming the turning presidency of the Council of the EU announced on Twitter.

Fights are banned from Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe.

The Slovenian presidency also called on member countries to impose a strict test and quarantine rules on returning passengers.

Belgium on Friday confirmed the first case of the new variant.

The patient is supposed to be a young woman who traveled to Belgium from Egypt via Turkey.

The new heavily mutated variant of the virus, that might be able to evade vaccines, was first identified Nov. 11 in Botswana.