Fears Covid vaccines would not work against South Africa variant led to travel curbs

Minister says extra check on travellers introduced as we simply cannot take chances'

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Fears that Covid vaccines will not work against the new South African strain of the virus have prompted the introduction of testing for new arrivals into England and Scotland from abroad, the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, has said.

Outlining the new testing regime for England and Scotland, he told Sky News: This is an extra check and we're doing this now because there are these variants that we're very keen to keep out of the country, like the South African variant, for example.