Hungary joins restrictions on travellers from southern Africa over new Covid variant

Hungary is joining a host of other countries in restricting air travel from the southern African region in an effort to contain a highly mutated variant of the coronavirus identified there, the Government Information Centre (KTK) said on Saturday.

The Council of the European Union on Friday debated response measures to the newly-identified B.1.1.529 South African coronavirus variant and recommended pulling an “emergency brake” and imposing temporary restrictions on non-essential travel from southern Africa. Member states agreed on the need for the introduction of restrictions.

The Council proposed requiring travellers from Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe to be tested for coronavirus and quarantined upon arrival in the EU.

Hungary has started preparing its own response measures, KTK said, adding that the government is expected to issue a decree in the matter later.

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