Canada halts travel from U.K. due to new COVID strain

OTTAWA – The Trudeau government is restricting travel from the U.K. in an effort to prevent a new strain of the virus that causes COVID-19 from making it to Canada.

The move comes into effect Monday and doesn't affect cargo flights or stops where passengers do not disembark.

The news, contained in a Notice to Airmen sent out by NAV Canada, comes after a closed-door meeting with members of the Incident Response Team.

The ministers of health, transport, foreign affairs, intergovernmental affairs and public safety were all in attendance.

The new strain is wreaking havoc on the U.K., accounting for 60 per cent of new infections in London by December.

The British government has said the strain has been circulating since September, but it wasn’t until the last week that there was enough evidence to declare that it has higher transmissibility than other circulating coronaviruses.