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Trucks are waiting to get in and out Britain They queued for miles and passengers were stranded at airports in several countries as severe travel restrictions were imposed for fear of a new tax on the coronavirus scattered across southeast England.
Countries around the world have frozen their air connections to Great Britain and France, banned truck access for 48 hours while the new variant was being evaluated. However, hopes grew that France would allow the resumption of traffic, with border controls to quickly test truck drivers for coronavirus.
The British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, convened a crisis meeting with its emergency committee on Monday amid growing concerns that the restrictions could lead to food shortages if not quickly lifted. The government has already advised against a trip to Kent, the southeastern province where many of the ports that used to cross the English Channel are located.
Most perishable goods arriving in Great Britain from France do so by truck. Goods transported on ships as factory goods in containers were not affected by the new measures.
While French regulations did not prevent the passage of goods through the English Channel to Great Britain, confusion about the new rules exacerbated traffic congestion on both sides at a time when traffic was already complicated by Christmas and uncertainty about future trade relations between Great Britain. Britain and the European Union.
Every day about 10,000 trucks pass through the UK port of Dover, which accounts for about 20% of the country’s freight trade. UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the French ban was “somewhat surprising” but tried to create calm by noting that most of UK trade was untouched..
Shapps insisted that the public would “for the most part” not notice any shortages.
French Transport Minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari indicated that a solution is being worked on. “In the coming hours, we will be introducing a solid health protocol at European level so that flow can resume from the UK.”
In a video intervention during his cabinet meeting, French President Emmanuel Macron said this hoarse “We are considering systematic testing on arrival”. Macron worked from the Elysee Palace while recovering from a COVID-19 infection.
Canada, India, Hungary and Switzerland were among the last countries to halt arrivals from Great Britain, following the example of many European countries. In the United States, the Governor of the State of New York said he wanted to ban flights from Britain to New York City. France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Austria, Denmark, Ireland and Bulgaria were among those announcing widespread restrictions on flights from Britain on Sunday.
The Eurotunnel, a rail service connecting Great Britain to continental Europe, has also discontinued its services.
The measures responded to a performance by Johnson on Saturday, in which he announced that London and the south-east of England would be subject to a new level 4 of restrictions following a warning from his scientific advisers, who were using what is believed to be one of the systems. to be. more advanced in genome sequencing and found that the new virus strain spread much faster than the previous one.
Experts from EU countries were due to meet in Brussels on Monday to discuss the new variant of the virus.
Johnson said early indications were that the new variant was 70% more contagious, causing the rapid spike in cases in and around the capital. Great Britain registered a record 35,928 new cases on Sunday.
The European Center for Disease Control said that while preliminary analysis in Britain suggested the species was “significantly more contagious,” there was no evidence that it caused more serious infections.
The Stockholm-based agency said cases of the new variant had been discovered in Iceland, Denmark and the Netherlands. He also quoted media reports on cases in Belgium and Italy.