Oil dropped towards $50 a barrel on Tuesday, adding to losses from the previous session, as a mutant variant of the coronavirus in Britain revived concerns over demand recovery.

Detection of the new variant prompted several countries to close their borders to Britain. The BBC cited France’s Europe Minister as saying that the two countries would announce a deal to restart freight by Wednesday.

Brent crude was down 79 cents, or 1.6%, at $50.12 a barrel by 1442 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 75 cents, or 1.6%, to $47.22.

Both benchmarks slid nearly 3% on Monday, partly erasing recent gains driven by the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, seen as key to allowing a return to normal life.

“In the battle between immediate negative concerns and future optimism, the former is now fighting back,” said Tamas Varga of oil broker PVM.

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Source: SweetCrudeReports