LONDON — Eurostar trains between London, Brussels and Amsterdam are being canceled from Monday, after the Belgian government announced that borders with the U.K will close at midnight Sunday.
The high-speed train operator said Sunday that trains continue to operate on the London to Paris route.
The Belgian government has said it will review the position in 24 hours. Eurostar said they’re awaiting further details from relevant governments on how travel restrictions will be enforced.
European countries including the Netherlands, Austria and Italy said Sunday they would halt flights from the U.K., hours after Britain’s government imposed tough new coronavirus restrictions on large areas of southern England to curb what officials described as a fast-moving new strain of the virus.
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THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:
— European countries halt U.K. flights, fearing the new coronavirus variant.
— Asia Today: Outbreak grows in Sydney’s beach suburbs; Thais line up for tests.
— A surge of ‘new poor’ linked to closed restaurants and hotels are struggling amid Italy’s outbreak.
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Follow AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:
ROME — Italy’s foreign minister announced Sunday that Italy is suspending flights from Britain “to protect Italians” from the new coronavirus variant.
Luigi Di Maio tweeted that the government was preparing a measure that would block flights. It wasn’t immediately clear when it would it would take effect.
Italian media reports indicate about two dozen flights are scheduled to arrive in Italy on Sunday, most in the northern region of Lombardy but also in Veneto and Lazio, which include Venice and Rome, respectively.
More than 327,000 Italian citizens are registered as living in Britain, with the unofficial total reaching as many as 700,000. Sunday is the last day that Italians can travel from one region to another before the Christmas holidays, due to a new partial lockdown imposed by the government to prevent a new surge in infections.
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BANGKOK — Thousands of people lined up for coronavirus tests in a province near Bangkok on Sunday, as Thai authorities scrambled to contain an outbreak that has infected nearly 700 people.
Lines of mainly migrant workers stretched for around 100 meters in one location alone in Mahachai in Samut Sakhon province, as health officials in mobile units methodically took nasal swabs.
There were three locations in total in the area. Nearby, razor wire and police guards blocked access to one of Thailand’s largest seafood markets and its associated housing complex, the epicenter of the new cluster.
Thailand’s Disease Control Department said Sunday that they found 141 more cases linked to the market outbreak. On Saturday, the department reported 548 cases, Thailand’s biggest daily spike.
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PRAGUE…