At least 30 countries, including 17 in the neighboring European Union, have banned travel to the United Kingdom after the British government warned that a new variant of coronavirus could be up to 70% more transmissible.
Why does it matter: Supply chains are broken just days before the UK ends the Brexit transition period without a free trade agreement with the EU – its largest and closest trading partner. A Brexit without an agreement could cause massive damage to a British economy that has already been devastated by the pandemic.
News management: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to hold an emergency meeting of advisers after France announced on Sunday it would close its borders for 48 hours, blocking ports that account for about 20% of Britain’s trade in goods, according to the AP.
- The government has asked people not to travel to Kent County, which hosts many of the cross-channel ports used for access to the European continent and sees about 10,000 cargo trucks a day through the Dover-Calais crossing.
- European Union officials will meet on Monday to discuss a coordinated response to the new coronavirus variant, which has been detected in Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands, according to the BBC.
Between the lines: So far there is no evidence that the new variant of coronavirus is more deadly – only it seems 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 transmissibility forced Johnson to return this weekend on a plan to ease coronavirus restrictions for five days to allow the British to travel to see family and friends for Christmas.
- Just days after Johnson said the Christmas cancellation would be “inhuman,” the government ordered London and the south-east of England – where Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the new option would “get out of hand”. stricter form of locking.
The whole picture: Significant disruptions to travel and trade take place less than two weeks before the end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December.
- A Brexit without an agreement with the EU, which negotiators now consider “very likely”, was already expected to cause mass chaos in ports that have now been blocked due to the closure of coronavirus borders.
- Freight routes between England and France were already heavily congested due to pre-Brexit storage by British companies. Sunday’s images showed trucks backing up for miles.
- Critics of the Johnson administration have called on it to call for an extension of the transition period, fearing the duel crisis of a Brexit without an agreement and an out-of-control pandemic could be catastrophic for the British economy. Johnson, who was elected with his promise to deliver Brexit, has consistently ruled out an extension.
Go deeper: Britain and EU enjoy Brexit cliff without agreement as trade talks dwindle