UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will chair an emergency meeting on Monday to review the situation after several countries across the world have either suspended or temporarily halted flights to and fro from Britain following the discovery of a highly infectious new mutant Covid-19 strain.

The development came after nations including France, Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Irish Republic, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Switzerland and Canada have announced the suspension of UK flights, the BBC reported. France has also closed its border with the UK for 48 hours, meaning no lorries or ferry passengers will be able to sail from the port of Dover. While Hong Kong will enforce the flight ban from Monday midnight, Austria is also set to bring in a suspension.

The new variant, the discovery of which was announced by Johnson on December 19, has spread quickly in London and south-east England, but health officials have said that there was no evidence that it is more deadly or would react differently to vaccines.