Lined-up truckers finally begin to depart U.K.
Thousands likely to be waiting on Christmas
DOVER, England — Truckers and travelers stuck in a days-long gridlock at the English port of Dover started heading to France on Thursday after the country partially reopened its borders with Britain.
The move came after international concern over a rapidly spreading new coronavirus variant.
However, thousands of stranded truck drivers still awaited their turns to cross the English Channel, held up by the slow delivery of coronavirus tests.
Trucks inched forward to the ferries and trains that link Britain with France, as authorities checked that drivers could show the negative virus tests now required to cross.
Officials warned the backlog could take days to clear, and many truckers will likely spend Christmas waiting in their cabs.
Dozens of countries swiftly halted travel from the U.K. last weekend after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said London and other areas of southern England had to close all non-essential stores and call off holiday plans to curb a new, much more contagious version of the virus.
China on Thursday became the latest nation to suspend flights to and from the U.K., further isolating the country.
But infection rates continue to soar, particularly in London and surrounding areas.
The capital now has the highest rate of people testing positive in the country, according to the latest figures.
The Office for National Statistics estimated that 2.1 percent of the people in London had COVID-19 in mid-december, compared with around 1.18 percent, or 1 in 85 people, for the wider population in England. The figures do not include people in hospitals or care homes.
The majority of new positive cases confirmed in London were believed to be the coronavirus variant, the statistics office said. For England as a whole, it estimated that about half of all new cases could be the new variant.
Officials say the new variant is dangerous because it is more transmissible, though they stress there is no evidence it makes people more ill. Christmas gatherings and festive shopping were cancelled for millions at the last minute in a bid to control the spread of the virus.
The operators of the Channel Tunnel said the backlog is slowly clearing and around 1,200 trucks so far passed Thursday through the underwater railway passage that runs from England to France.