LONDON (AP) – Trucks waiting to enter and leave the UK have returned miles and people have been stranded at airports on Monday as many countries have imposed strict travel restrictions due to concerns about a new strain of coronavirus that is spreading in the south east of England.
Countries around the world have stopped air travel to the UK, while France has banned trucks from entering for 48 hours, while the new option is being evaluated. However, there were growing hopes on Monday that France would allow traffic to travel again, with truck drivers having to do quick coronavirus tests on arrival.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will hold a meeting of the government’s emergency committee on Monday amid growing concerns about new restrictions that could lead to food shortages if they are not lifted soon. The government has already asked not to travel to Kent, the southeastern county with many ports.
Most perishable goods coming to the UK from France arrive in trucks. Goods transported in containers on ships, such as manufactured goods, are not affected by the ban.
Although the French ban does not prevent goods from crossing the English Channel into the UK, confusion over the new regulations was added to long backups on both sides at a time when traffic was already rife with Christmas-related traffic and uncertainty. on Britain’s future trade relationship with the European Union.
About 10,000 trucks pass through the Port of Dover in the UK every day, accounting for about 20% of the UK’s freight trade. British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said France’s ban was “slightly surprising” – but tried to calm his nerves, noting that most British trade was not affected.
Shapps insisted the public would not notice any shortcomings “for the most part.”
The French Minister of Transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, indicated that a solution was coming. In a tweet, he said that “in the next few hours, at European level, we will implement a sound health protocol so that the flow from the UK can be resumed”.
A French president with a strange voice, Emmanuel Macron, said in a Cabinet meeting on video: “We are looking at systematic testing on arrival.” Macron worked at the Elysee Palace while recovering from COVID-19 infection.
Canada, India, Hungary and Switzerland are among the last countries to stop flights from the UK, following the leadership of many in Europe. In the United States, the governor of New York has stated that he wants to ban flights from the United Kingdom to New York. France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland and Ireland were among those who on Sunday announced widespread restrictions on Eurotunnel flights in the UK, the rail service linking the UK to mainland Europe, has also suspended services.
The move comes after Johnson’s announcement on Saturday that it is placing London and the south-east of England in a new level of level 4 restrictions following a warning from his scientific advisers – using what is considered to be one of the most sophisticated in the world. . genome sequencing regimens – that it has detected a new variant of coronavirus that may be more contagious.
Johnson said that early indications are that the new variant of the virus is 70% more communicable and causes the rapid spread of new infections in the capital and surrounding areas. Johnson will meet with COBRA’s civil contingency committee on Monday amid “significant disruption” warnings around the English Channel ports.
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control said on Monday that although a preliminary analysis in the UK suggests that the new variant is “significantly more transmissible”, there is no indication that the infections are more severe. Experts, however, stressed that even if the new strain is not more lethal, it is inevitable that more cases will lead to more hospitalizations and subsequent deaths related to the virus.
The Stockholm agency said several cases with the new variant had already been reported by Iceland, Denmark and the Netherlands. He also cited media reports on cases in Belgium and Italy.
Roman Woelfel, head of the Bundeswehr Institute of Microbiology in Munich, said that the variants described by Great Britain were not seen in the samples of patients examined in Germany. However, he noted that the British consortium for virus sequencing is particularly good at finding new variants.
Experts from EU member states met in Brussels on Monday to discuss the new option.
The chaos on the border comes at a time of great uncertainty for Britain, less than two weeks before the final stage of Britain’s exit from the EU.
Although the UK left the bloc on 31 January, it is in a period of transition that effectively sees it comply with EU rules by the end of this year. Discussions on a post-Brexit trade relationship are still blocked and will resume on Monday.
Retailers have downplayed fears about short-term food shortages, but warned that there could be problems if travel bans last for a while and if the UK and the EU fail to agree on a post-Brexit trade deal.
The British retail consortium has warned that closing traffic from France to the United Kingdom will create trade “difficulties” during the busy Christmas period.
“Retailers were supplied with goods before Christmas, which should prevent immediate problems,” said Andrew Opie, director of Food and Sustainability at the British Retail Consortium.
“However, any prolonged closure of the French border would be a problem as Britain enters the final weeks before the end of the transition.”
Logistics UK has urged people to stay calm and not rush to supermarkets to store goods.
“Buyers shouldn’t panic,” said Kevin Green, its director of marketing and communications. “If freight moves again today, then the overall impact on fresh produce reaching supermarkets should be fairly minimal.”
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Associated Press writers Frank Jordans in Berlin, Thomas Adamson in Paris and Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.
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Follow the AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak.