France sealed its border with British trucks after a more infectious coronavirus strain was detected in England.
French officials have banned truck traffic in the country for the next 48 hours while the new strain is being assessed, according to The Associated Press.
The AP noted that the trucks are used to transport the most perishable British goods in France, adding that the transport of goods through the English Channel is not affected by the ban. Trucking accounts for about a fifth of UK trade, with about 10,000 trucks passing through the Port of Dover every day.
The British Secretary of Transport, Grant Shapps, said the stop would not affect the daily lives of UK residents “for the most part”.
His French counterpart, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, said the measure was temporary and wrote on Twitter 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. “.
In the next few hours, at European level, we will implement a sound health protocol so that flows from the UK can be resumed. Our priority: to protect our citizens and fellow citizens.
– Jean-Baptiste Djebbari (@Djebbari_JB) December 21, 2020
French President Emanuel Macron, recovering from the virus, said on Monday that officials in his country would weigh in on testing all those arriving from the UK
Several other nations, including Hungary, Switzerland, Italy, India and Canada, stopped all flights from the UK while the governor of New York. Andrew Cuomo
Andrew CuomoBirx traveled on Thanksgiving weekend after warning Americans to limit holidays to New York households, which protect fast food workers from being fired for no good reason. The agreement will include lower incentive controls, unemployment assistance Biden, Powell praises progress toward a MORE agreement (D) The Trump administration exploded because it did not take a similar step in the United States
“It’s time for the federal government to take swift action, because today this variant is getting on a plane and landing in JFK and only one person is needed,” Cuomo said.
Public health officials said that although the strain is more infectious, it does not appear to be more deadly than the previously identified strain and that vaccines recently approved by Moderna and Pfizer will prevent it.