Gulf countries said they would halt all passenger flights and close their borders for a week or longer, after a new strain of coronavirus spread quickly in England. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday Israel will significantly reduce entry of foreign nationals into the country in an effort to keep out a new, more infectious novel coronavirus strain.

Countries around the world closed their borders to Britain Monday in a race to contain a fast-spreading variant of the coronavirus as the European Union neared approval of its first jab for the bloc's vaccination campaign. 

The abrupt cancellation of flights in and out of the UK following the detection of a mutant strain of coronavirus left many people -- Britons and other nationals -- stranded just days before Christmas.

Countries around the world have begun banning flights and travelers from Britain as London admitted that a more infectious new coronavirus strain was spreading "out of control".

The European Union scrambled Monday to hammer out a coordinated response to a mutated strain of the coronavirus sweeping Britain, after countries cut transport links from the UK. 

Spain and Portugal have agreed to suspend flights from United Kingdom due to the emergence of a more infectious strain of the coronavirus there, the Spanish government said Monday.

Russia on Monday reported a new record increase in coronavirus infections, as some experts said the pandemic had hit the country harder than government statistics suggest.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson was to chair a crisis meeting Monday as a growing number of countries from France to Argentina blocked flights to Britain over a new highly infectious coronavirus strain the UK said was "out of control".

The EU's drug regulator will decide on Monday whether to authorise the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, with desperate countries hoping for the green light to finally start inoculating their citizens.