"Due to the new variant of COVID19, the National Operation Center decided to suspend as of 11:59 p.m. today [04:59 GMT on Tuesday], temporarily, the entry into the country of those who have stayed or transited through the United Kingdom and the Republic of South Africa in the last 20 days," the ministry said on Twitter on Monday.

The health ministry specified that the temporary ban applies to all travelers ("air, land or maritime, using commercial or private means").

Panama citizens and residents arriving home must test for COVID-19 and are required to remain in quarantine until it is verified that they are not infected with the coronavirus, the ministry said in a statement released on its Twitter account.

On Saturday, UK health officials announced that the country had identified a new variant of the coronavirus that is 70 percent more transmissible than other Sars-Cov-2 virus strains.

The UK government practically locked down parts of the country, including London, after admitting that more than half of all new COVID-19 cases had been caused by the new strain. Many countries have suspended passenger travel to and from the United Kingdom in a bid to prevent the import of the new virus strain.

The new coronavirus variant, which infects more easily but does not appear to be more deadly or pose any concerns for vaccines, has also been detected in Denmark, South Africa and Australia.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has advised countries to independently assess the risk of spillover of the new strain of coronavirus and make decisions on whether to suspend air traffic, WHO representative to Russia, Melita Vujnovic said on Monday.