At least 30 countries, including 17 in the neighboring European Union, have banned travel from the UK after the UK government warned that a new variant of the coronavirus could be up to 70% more transmissible.
Why it matters: Supply chains are disrupted just days before the UK will end the Brexit transition period without a free trade deal with the EU – its largest and closest trading partner. A no-deal Brexit could wreak havoc on a UK economy already ravaged by the pandemic.
Driving the news: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will hold an emergency meeting of advisers after France announced on Sunday that it would close its borders for 48 hours and block ports that, according to AP, account for about 20% of Britain’s trade in goods.
- The government has urged people not to travel to the county of Kent, which has many of the canal ports used for accessing the European continent and sees around 10,000 trucks passing through the Dover-Calais junction every day.
- European Union officials will meet on Monday to discuss a coordinated response to the new coronavirus variant, discovered in Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands, according to the BBC.
Between the lines: There is no evidence so far that the new variant of coronavirus is more deadly – just that it appears to be more transmissible. There is also no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines will be less effective against the new variant.
- The discovery of the apparent increase in portability forced Johnson to turn this weekend with a plan to ease the coronavirus restrictions for five days so that Britons can travel at Christmas to see family and friends.
- Days after Johnson said canceling Christmas would be “inhumane”, the London and South East England government – where Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the new variant was “out of control” – recommended the strictest form of lockdown. to go.
The big picture: The significant travel and trade disruptions come less than two weeks before the end of the Brexit transition period on December 31.
- A no-deal Brexit with the EU, which negotiators now consider “very likely”, would already lead to massive chaos in the ports now blocked due to coronavirus-related border closures.
- Freight routes between England and France were already heavily congested due to pre-Brexit stocks by British companies. Images on Sunday showed trucks backing up for miles.
- Critics of Johnson’s administration have demanded that he ask for an extension of the transition period, fearing the dueling crises of a no-deal Brexit and a runaway pandemic could be catastrophic for the British economy. Johnson, who was chosen based on his promise to implement Brexit, has consistently ruled out an extension.
Go deeper: UK, EU brace themselves for no-deal Brexit cliff as trade talks falter