Seven EU countries stopped flights from the UK

Seven EU member states - Ireland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Bulgaria and Austria - as well as Israel and El Salvador stopped accepting passenger flights from the UK.

The bans came less than 24 hours after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Saturday that a new strain of coronavirus identified in the country is 70% more contagious than previously investigated.

Johnson effectively canceled the celebration of Christmas for about 18 million residents of the south of England, including London, introducing a new strict regime of epidemiological danger level 4.