Beiruting News

“A case of the new strain of COVID-19 was recorded on [Middle East Airlines] flight number 202 coming from London on December 21,” he said. “We call on travelers arriving from the United Kingdom, especially those on the mentioned flight, to comply with preventative measures.”

New COVID-19 strain

A new variant of the pandemic SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has been spreading rapidly in Britain and prompting high levels of concern among its European neighbors and countries across the world leading some to implement travel bans to and from the UK.

The strain, referred to by some experts as the B.1.1.7 lineage, is not the first new variant of the pandemic virus to emerge, but is said to be up to 70 percent more transmissible than the previously dominant strain in the United Kingdom.