Iranian Health Minister Blasts Britain for 2-Month Secrecy on Mutated Coronavirus

“Unfortunately, Britain was late to make the revelation to the world one and a half to two months after it had identified new cases of the mutated virus,” Namaki told reporters after a cabinet meeting in Tehran on Wednesday.

He added that Iran has banned flights to or from Britain, and passengers arriving in Iran from Britain are monitored closely, while European travelers are required to also have a negative PCR card and be tested in Iran, and are recommended to stay in quarantine for two weeks.

“We have a list of people who have entered the country from Britain in the last two weeks and we are monitoring them, and we have not found any trace of the mutated virus in Iran so far,” Namaki said.

A new strain of COVID-19 is sweeping across Southern England and has caused alarm in continental Europe, leading to a flurry EU countries to issue travel bans on the UK in an effort to stop the mutation from spreading locally. 

Over the weekend, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that the fast-moving new variant of the virus was 70% more transmissible than existing strains and said it likely was the driving force behind a rapid spike in new infections in London and southern England.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said on Monday that ''timely efforts'' to prevent and control the spread of the new COVID-19 strain were necessary.

But it also noted that infections with the mutations have already been reported in several European countries.