Quarantine restrictions could be imposed on more European countries if a “second wave” of coronavirus hits the continent, Boris Johnson has said.
The prime minister faces a diplomatic row with Spain after warning against all but essential travel to the country and its resort islands, as well as insisting travellers arriving in the UK from there spend two weeks in quarantine.
“I’m afraid you are starting to see in some places the signs of a second wave of the pandemic,” the prime minister warned. ”It’s vital that when people are coming back from abroad, if they are coming back from a place where I’m afraid there is another outbreak, they must go into quarantine. That’s why we have taken the action that we have and we will continue, throughout the summer, to take such action where it is necessary.”
It comes as the government signed a deal with pharmaceutical giants GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Sanofi Pasteur for 60 million doses of a potential Covid-19 vaccine. If proven successful, the UK could begin to vaccine priority groups such as frontline health and social care workers and those at increased risk from coronavirus as early as the first half of next year, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said.
The government has now signed deals for four different types of potential coronavirus vaccines and a total of 250 million doses.
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