- UK has placed India on a red travel list since 1.6 million new infections have been reported in one week in India.
- Turkey daily coronavirus infection numbers have soared above 60,000.
- Portugal has been referred to as a coronavirus crisis country when at the end of January, 878 cases were reported in 7 days – more than 7 times higher than in Germany at the time.
India has been hit by a COVID tsunami with over 1.6 million infections within the last 7 days and was added to the UK’s travel “red list” amid concern over a new variant that has emerged in the country, British media reported.
The UK government decision to place India on the UK’s coronavirus travel “red list” came as a surprise, a spokesman for India’s ruling party said, responding with “there is a lack of data” on the variant in India. However, the data shows the daily average is now about 220,000 new cases – the fastest rate of COVID-19 spread in the world.
UK health officials are currently investigating whether a COVID variant first found in India spreads more easily and evades vaccines, the BBC reported. So far, the UK is reporting 108 cases of a new India variant in the United Kingdom. Tough measurements should have been taken earlier in order to avoid spreading the virus UK Ministers were told.