World bans Britain over ‘out of control’ virus strain
European Union approves Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine
Trucks waiting to get out of Britain backed up for miles and people were left stranded at airports yesterday as countries around the world imposed tough travel restrictions on the UK because of a new and seemingly more contagious strain of the coronavirus in England.
A growing number of countries halted air travel from Britain, while France banned British trucks for 48 hours while the new variant is assessed.
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the strain is “out of control” around London and southeastern England, though experts have said it is not clear whether it is more lethal, and they expressed confidence that the vaccines now being rolled out would still be effective against it.
There were rising hopes that France would soon allow traffic to flow again, if truck drivers took coronavirus tests on arrival.
Meanwhile, the European Union’s drug regulatory agency recommended use of Pfizer-biontech’s vaccine, setting the stage for the first Covid-19 vaccinations across the 27-nation bloc. The vaccine is already being dispensed in Britain and the US.
The EU was expected to give final approval to the recommendation within hours. Authorities in Germany and several other European countries said they hope to begin vaccinating people on December 27.
While the French ban does not prevent trucks from heading for Britain, the move stoked worries about shortages at a time of year when Britain produces very little of its food and relies heavily on produce delivered from Europe by truck. In a sign of the government’s concern, Prime Minister Boris Johnson called a meeting of the government’s emergency committee.
The ban caused chaos in Kent, the southeastern English county that is home to many of Britain’s English Channel ports. The government urged against travel to the county, but trucks snaked along the shoulders of the main highways to the ports anyway.
Around 10,000 trucks pass through Britain’s port of Dover every day, accounting for about 20 per cent of the country’s trade in goods. British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said France’s ban was “slightly sur
prising” but insisted that the UK public won’t notice any shortages “for the most part”.
However, supermarket chain Sainsbury’s warned some products, such as lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli and citrus fruits, could soon be in short supply if the crisis not resolved in the coming days.
France’s Minister of Transport Jean-baptiste Djebbari indicated that a solution was coming.
In a tweet, he said that “in the coming hours, at a European level, we will put a solid health protocol in place so that the flow from the United Kingdom can resume”.
And a croaky-voiced French President Emmanuel Macron, who is working from the Elysee Palace as he
recovers from Covid-19, told acabinet meeting by video: “We are looking at systematic testing upon arrival.”
Canada, India, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Poland were among the countries that halted flights from Britain. In the US, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he wanted a ban on flights from Britain to New York City. Eurotunnel, the rail operator that carries passengers and freight between Britain mainland Europe, also suspended service out of the UK.
At Germany’s Berlin and Frankfurt airports, passengers arriving from Britain had to spend the night in the terminals as they awaited test results.
The moves come after Johnson’s announcement on Sunday that he was placing London and the
southeast of England in a newly created tier of restrictions after scientific advisers warned that they had detected a new strain of the virus that may be more contagious.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said while preliminary analysis suggests the new variant is “significantly more transmissible”, there is no indication that infections are more severe. Experts, however, have stressed that even if the new strain is not more lethal, there will be more infections, hospitalisations and deaths.
The Stockholm-based agency said a few cases of the variant have been reported by Iceland, Denmark and the Netherlands. It also cited reports of cases in Belgium and Italy. — AP