Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon called for the Brexit transition period to be extended beyond the Dec. 31 deadline amid the spread of a new strain of the CCP virus in southeast England. Sturgeon made her comments as many European countries close their borders with the UK due to the new faster-spreading variant of the virus. “It is now imperative that PM [Boris Johnson] seeks an agreement to extend the Brexit transition period,” Sturgeon wrote on Twitter on Sunday. “The new COVID strain—and the various implications of it—means we face a profoundly serious situation, and it demands our 100 percent attention,” Sturgeon wrote. Sturgeon’s call follows Health Minister Matt Hancock saying on Sunday that the new variant had become “out of control.” Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty confirmed on Saturday that Public Health England’s (PHE) genomic surveillance had shown that it spreads faster than the old variant. Countries across the world …