UK block on South Africa flights pushes thousands of travel plans into disarray

BA and Virgin cancel flights and review schedules as fears grow over new Covid variant

Thousands of Britons in South Africa and many more with bookings to travel have had their plans thrown into disarray as flights were suspended on Friday.

The UK government temporarily blocked direct flights as it placed six southern African countries on the red list due to concerns over a new Covid-19 variant. The move comes at the start of peak holiday season, with airlines having booked tens of thousands of passengers to fly before Christmas.