For now Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom are banning travelers from southern Africa from entering their territories due to the new Covid-19 variant detected in South Africa, but the number of countries following suit could increase...

The new variant, called B.11529, discovered in South Africa, whose main characteristic is to carry an exceptionally high number of mutations, is already worrying the world. One example is the position recently taken by Italy and Germany, which is to ban foreign travelers from South Africa from entering their territory because of this new variant.

"This rule, which will take effect as of Friday night, will affect South Africa and "probably neighboring countries," said outgoing German Health Minister Jens Spahn, quoted by the news source.

According to the minister, only German citizens will be able to re-enter, but must respect the 14-day quarantine, even if they are vaccinated. The same decision was also taken by Italy, through its Health Minister Roberto Speranza, who announced the prohibition to enter his country "to anyone who has been in Southern Africa during the last 14 days.

"The countries affected by this measure are South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia and Swaziland," he said.

The United Kingdom was also not left out of the measures applied to "countries in the southern region, of which Mozambique is also part. It announced that it will add six African countries to the covid-19 'red list', temporarily banning flights, due to the risk associated with the new variant detected in South Africa and considered the "worst so far".

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said on Twitter that the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is "investigating the new variant" and that "more data is needed" but that "precautions" are being taken at the moment.

 It should be noted that about this new variant, at this stage, scientists are not sure about the effectiveness of anti-covid-19 vaccines.