Isolated Kingdom: Chaos in Britain over Mutation

More than 40 countries, from India to Canada, have banned the entry of passengers from the UK following the new mutation in the virus. A French source told the BBC that the union was interested in resuming travel from the UK “as soon as possible”, but no decision has been made so far. One possibility being considered in Brussels is that passengers arriving from the UK – including truck drivers – will be required to present a negative corona test to get permission to enter.

Beth, a British woman living in Turkey, flew to visit her parents in the south-east of England this month. Now she can not return home. “I have not been to the UK for about 10 months because I was terribly afraid that something like this would happen,” she said sadly.

Germany, one of the countries that suspended flights, required passengers arriving on recent flights from the UK to wait at airports until the results of a corona test that determined they had not been infected with the virus. As a result, many passengers arriving from the UK were forced to stay overnight at airports throughout Germany, including Frankfurt and Berlin.

“Please let us leave,” asked one of the passengers who arrived from the UK from the staff at Hanover Airport. A passenger named Sophie said: “We are all exhausted, and a lot of people are crying. Everyone is talking to their family members. This situation is not comfortable at all. All we want is to go home.”

Sabrina, a German passenger, said that when she arrived in Britain from Hanover she was treated “like a criminal”: “The police completely surrounded me, I was standing outside, in the rain, with 70 other passengers. They do not give us any information. One policeman told me: ‘It’s your fault, you were Aware of the situation and still boarding the flight. ”

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo yesterday (Monday) called on the United States to join the list of countries banning flights from the United Kingdom. , British Airways, agreed to do so.

Yesterday France announced it was banning passengers and goods from entering the UK for 48 hours. As a result, hundreds of trucks and cars got stuck in traffic outside the Dover port in the English Channel. Every day, about 10,000 trucks cross the port, responsible for about 20% of the passage of goods to the UK. “My chances of getting home for Christmas are diminished. It’s idiotic and I’m nervous,” said Stanislaw, a 55-year-old Polish truck driver stuck in a traffic jam.

The French ban does not prevent trucks from entering the UK, but it is estimated that many drivers and employers will prefer not to take the risk – following uncertainty about their return home. “No driver wants to go to Britain now,” the French National Transport Federation said yesterday, preparing the British for a reduction in the number of goods to arrive in the coming days.

In the days as a repair, many trucks leaving with goods from the UK return to the kingdom with goods from other European countries. When truck drivers cannot travel to France, the main transport artery, the fear is that a drop in the number of trucks crossing the border will lead to a shortage of food products ahead of Christmas.

British retail chains Tesco and Sainsbury’s have warned that later this week there may be a shortage of fresh fruits and vegetables, including lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower and citrus fruits. Tesco stressed that there is currently no shortage of food products. The British government has told the public to refrain from a “shopping panic”. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the delays in the passage of goods “only concern a very small part of the food coming to the UK”. He called on the British to “keep buying as usual”.

The chains are not afraid of shortage of food in the short term, but have warned that if the travel ban continues the UK will be in big trouble. Another issue on the agenda, apart from the closure of the border with France, is the completion of the Brexit: less than two weeks remain until the date on which Britain is due to officially withdraw from the EU.

Although the UK left the Union on 31 January, the transition period in which it is supposed to continue to operate in accordance with EU regulations will only end at the end of this year. The talks on the “post-Brexit” and a new trade agreement at a dead end. “Retailers are stockpiling goods ahead of Christmas, which will prevent immediate problems,” said Andrew Ofi, of the British Retailers’ Conservatory. “However, any prolonged closure of the border with France will pose a problem for Britain as it enters the final weeks before the (Brexit) transition period ends.”

“What’s happening to the UK is a tragedy, and this Brexit is a tragedy too, we see it every day,” Thierry Burton, European Commissioner for Internal Markets, told the Guardian. Burton noted that if Britain had stayed in the EU it would now be receiving € 30 to € 50 billion in aid, thanks to a bailout fund set up by the European Commission to tackle the plague.

Boris Johnson said yesterday that talks between the parties are ongoing, but that there is currently no progress in negotiations for the agreement. Our companies are from the new mutation, “Johnson said, but noted that the mutation is no more dangerous compared to the virus. Earlier, Macron said France plans to conduct thorough tests on those arriving from the UK.

Over the weekend, Johnson imposed a closure on London and the south-east of England, an area where, according to Health Minister Matt Hancock, the mutation of the virus “got out of control”. As a result of the spread of the mutation in the south-east of England, Johnson canceled the Christmas-planned facilities for millions of people. Christmas social gatherings and unnecessary travel outside the quarantine area are prohibited. Businesses that are not defined as essential have been closed. The Guardian wrote tonight that Johnson is facing increasing pressure to impose a general closure in the coming days.

Experts say that although the new mutation is not more deadly than the virus, it is much more contagious – up to 70%. The experts, as well as the European Medicines Agency, believe that the vaccines are also effective against the mutation. Tonight, the European Commission approved the use of the Pfizer vaccine, and the vaccination campaign in the EU countries will open next week. Britain had already begun vaccinating its citizens against the virus, and was the first to do so in the West.

The new mutation was first discovered in September. In November it was responsible for a quarter of those infected in London, and in mid-December for two-thirds of those infected. In London, they emphasize thatThe mutation has been discovered in other countries around the world, Including Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark and South Africa. The British Minister of Transport, Grant Schaps, claimed that the fact that the new strain was discovered in the United Kingdom was due to the fact that the authorities in it carried out a more comprehensive scientific analysis than other authorities in the world. In the last day, the UK reported 33,364 new infections in Corona and 215 who died from the virus.