Our travel correspondent Simon Calder reports the following:

The Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific has cancelled all its UK flights up to and including 10 January 2021.

The carrier said the decision was taken “in light of the Hong Kong SAR government’s announcement”.

The links to and from London Heathrow and Manchester are both grounded.

“We are very sorry for this unexpected change to your travel plans, especially during the festive season,” said Cathay Pacific.

British Airways is banned from carrying passengers to Hong Kong until 25 December due to flying in travellers who later tested positive for coronavirus.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has grounded all international flights for a week. The ban took effect on Monday morning and lasts until Sunday night, 27 December, unless extended.

The kingdom did the same in early March at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, before easing restrictions in the autumn.

Flights to and from the UK on the national airline, Saudia, and British Airways, are affected.

After a meeting of the health ministry earlier on Monday, India has announced a ban on flights from the UK until the 31 December, effective from midnight on Tuesday.

My colleague in Delhi, Mayank Aggarwal, brings you the latest updates: 

In other Ireland-related news, crowds of people at London’s Heathrow Airport were held in the terminal on Sunday night after reports that the final flight of the evening to Dublin had been overbooked.

One traveller described an “exodus of Irish” as people rushed to beat a 48-hour ban on flights from Britain to Ireland, which came into force at midnight on Sunday.

Tom Batchelor has the full story: 

Arlene Foster has said “it is probable” that the new strain of coronavirus is probably already in Northern Ireland and the Republic.

Stormont’s first minister spoke on BBC’s Good Morning Ulster programme, urging people to follow the new rules. Ms Foster said she deeply regretted that official guidance on the holiday season had changed.

Ministers also debated imposing a temporary ban on travel from Great Britain to Northern Ireland in response to the new variant of Covid-19 that has taken hold in London and Kent – following in the footsteps of 

No decision was taken but ministers are expected to return to the issue on Monday.

The coronavirus vaccination rollout will not be affected by France’s ban on freight from the UK, Grant Shapps has assured the general public.

The transport secretary told Sky News on Monday that the disruption around the Channel ports in Kent “won’t have an impact” on the vaccine supply.

He said: “Most vaccine doesn’t come via what is called ‘Ro-Ro’, roll-on, roll-off, which is what we are talking about here. In other words, it’s not usually accompanied by a driver, by a haulier. It comes on those containers.

“To put this into context, there are about 6,000 vehicles we would expect, just under in Dover today, probably 4,000 would have gone across from Dover, just under about 2,000 on the Eurotunnel.

“But there is probably something like 32,000 units that would have been the daily total, so the vast majority – including virtually all the vaccine – actually comes via container and there are good supplies in the meantime.

“So this won’t have an impact on the vaccination programme.”

Flights, trains and ferries for an estimated 30,000 travellers hoping to leave the UK have been cancelled because of the travel bans rippling across Europe and beyond.

Analysis by The Independent shows around 200 flights from the UK to Europe have been cancelled, along with several Eurostar trains to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam and dozens of ferry sailings.

Our travel correspondent Simon Calder has the story:

Flights from Britain to Norway will be suspended with immediate effect for a minimum of 48 hours due to concerns over a new strain of coronavirus, the Norwegian health minister said in a statement on Monday.

Boris Johnson announced on Saturday that the new strain had led to spiralling infection numbers, and several European countries have since announced restrictions on travel. 

Following the decision by France to temporarily ban all British containers from entering the country, Logistic UK general manager Alex Veitch has called on the government to offer rapid testing for lorry drivers.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, he said: “The silver lining in this very substantial cloud is that we now have measures and tools available that were not here in the first wave of the pandemic.

“There were no material disruptions that prevented shelves being stocked, even in April and May when we didn’t really understand how the virus was transmitted.

“Now we have testing and so we are encouraging our government to look seriously at introducing rapid testing for drivers.”

He said he is very worried about drivers who are stuck in their lorries, and that plans to use the defunct Manston Airport site would be an “absolute necessity” for them to get refreshments and use the toilet.

French health minister Olivier Véran has said it is “entirely possible” the mutated Covid-19 strain is already spreading in France.  

“It is entirely possible that the virus is circulating in France,” Mr Véran told Europe 1 radio.

He also said that the current vaccines were likely to work against the new strain of the virus.

“In theory, there is no reason to think that the vaccine should not be effective,” he said.

My colleague Tom Batchelor reports:

Former deputy Chief Medical Officer, Rev Professor Gina Radford, has said  it is “likely” further restrictions will be introduced after Christmas as the virus’ new strain spreads to other parts of the UK.

“We have to be realistic,” she told Sky News this morning, adding: “We always knew that there was a chance – with the relaxation and before we knew how prevalent this strain was – that we may face further restrictions.”