More countries closed their borders to Britain on Monday over fears of a new infectious coronavirus strain, sparking global panic, causing travel chaos and raising expectations of a UK food shortage just days before for Brexit shaving.
India, Poland, Switzerland, Russia and Hong Kong have suspended travel for Britons after Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that a variable variant of the virus up to 70% more infectious has been identified in the country, while Japan and South Korea said they were monitoring the situation.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson
(Photo: AFP)
Several countries have already stopped travel, including France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Ireland, Belgium, Israel and Canada.
When the new strain was discovered, just months before vaccines were expected to become widely available, they sparked a new pandemic in a pandemic that killed around 1.7 million people worldwide and more than 67,000 in Britain.
Australia said two people who traveled from the UK to the state of New South Wales were found to be carrying the mutated virus.
Johnson will chair an emergency response meeting on Monday to discuss international travel, in particular the flow of goods into and out of Britain. EU officials held a meeting about coordinating their response.
France closed its border to British people and lorries, closing one of the most important articles of trade with mainland Europe.
As families and lorry drivers tried to lift travel bans to get back home in time for Christmas, Britain’s second-largest supermarket chain, Sainsbury’s, said gaps were starting to appear. on the shelves within days if transport links with mainland Europe were not quickly restored.
An electronic information display board shows the ‘cancellation’ status of flights in the departure hall of Heathrow Airport on the west side of London.
(Photo: AFP)
“If nothing changes, we will start to see gaps over the next few days on lettuce, some salad leaves, carrots, broccoli and citrus fruits – all imported from the mainland at the this time of year, “Sainsbury ‘s said.
Scottish shellfish producers said they had a ton of perishable produce on roads due to the French border closure. Riots in Britain are also ripping up supplies to Ireland.
“No driver wants to deliver to the UK now, so the UK is going to see their supply of goods dry up,” said France’s national road transport federation FNTR.
The global alert was reflected in financial markets.
European shares fell, with travel and leisure stocks affected by the pain; British Airways and easyJet-owned IAG fell about 8%, while Air France KLM lost about 7%.
The British pound fell 2.5% against the dollar, and was on course for its biggest one-day fall since March, while yields on UK government two-year bonds were lower than ever.
The crisis was compounded by British tabloids.
“Sick Man of Europe”, the Daily Mirror newspaper said on its front page next to a picture of Johnson while the Sun newspaper reported “French show no merci”.
Passengers wait at London’s Heathrow Airport as a series of countries around the world have banned UK arrivals
(Photo: AFP)
Johnson thwarted Christmas plans for millions of British people on Saturday because of the more contagious strain of the coronavirus, although he said there was no evidence that it was either more deadly or caused a more serious illness. .
The new version has 23 different variations, many of which are related to how it binds to and enters cells. British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said Britain had carried out some of the best global research on mutation of the virus so it was just seeing what was already happening in other countries.
Shapps said getting his ban lifted as soon as he could was his priority but gave Britain’s preparations for the end of the Brexit transition period in December. 31, the country was well on its way to unrest.
The British government has boosted plans to stack lorries in south-east Kent – part of its plans for possible unrest when the UK goes out of orbit. EU with – or without – a trade deal at 2300 GMT on December. 31.
Negotiations over the Brexit trade deal were expected to continue on Monday.
“This is a very bad situation as the stock is expected here for Christmas and to help settle into January,” Jon Swallow, director of British logging group Jordon Freight, told Reuters.
“This shows how fragile the cross-channel route is.”
A sign warns visitors that Terminal 3 will be closed at Heathrow Airport in west London
(Photo: AFP)
The new virus strain has been identified in Britain at a time when COVID-19 cases have risen in several Asian countries where the disease was previously widespread. The spikes have prompted local locks in some countries and more aggressive trials.
South Korea, which imposes a 14-day quarantine on all entrants, said it was reviewing new measures for flights from Britain, and would test two once on those who would come in from there before being released from quarantine.
New cases climbed to more than 1,000 a day in South Korea several times last week. He reported on Sunday that a riot had broken out in a Seoul prison in which 188 prisoners and workers were infected.
Thailand on Sunday said it was testing tens of thousands of people, and widening loops of movement, following the worst revolution yet to begin at a market in an area that is a center of industry seafood and home to thousands of migrant workers.
Australia, where things in Sydney have ignited in recent days, halted dozens of domestic trips on Monday. New South Wales, which has published 86 new local cases since Thursday, ordered more than 250,000 people locked up, although officials stressed that the infections were not UK snoring.