Fauci Calls for US-UK Flights to Remain Open Despite New Strain of Coronavirus: ‘Don’t Overreact’

Dr. Anthony Fauci is calling for flights between the United States and United Kingdom to remain open despite the reported spread of a new, more contagious strain of Covid-19.

“Keep an eye on it,” Fauci advised in a comment to CNN. “Don’t overreact to it.”

Experts believe a Covid-19 mutation that has been spreading in the U.K. is up to 70 percent more transmissible than the original version. No research has been conducted on whether vaccines developed by Pfizer, Moderna, or other drug companies are capable of inoculating patients against it.

As of Monday, countries including Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, and the Netherlands had stopped conducting flights between them and the U.K.

The country on Sunday reported more than 13,000 new cases of the new virus, a fresh daily record, despite new lockdown measures that took effect on Monday. Noting the virus had spun “out of control,” U.K. Health Secretary Matthew Hancock called it “an incredibly difficult end to… an awful year.”

Fauci was famously hesitant to support a ban on travel between the U.S. in China in the early days of Covid-19, telling senators in a January 24 briefing it was “not a good idea at this time,” adding it “would create a lot of disruption economically and otherwise, and it wouldn’t necessarily have a positive effect.” Nonetheless, President Donald Trump instituted that ban on January 31.

Watch above via CNN.