UK PM Boris Johnson hold an emergency response meeting on Monday to discuss the travel ban the UK faces owing to the new strain of the virus. The decision comes after France became the latest country to ban entry to all incoming vehicles from the UK for 48 hours, be it via road, air, sea or rail.
Britain tightened COVID-19 restrictions in London and southern England to try to curb the spread of a new strain of the coronavirus.
“The prime minister will chair a COBR meeting tomorrow to discuss the situation regarding international travel, in particular the steady flow of freight into and out of the UK. Further meetings are happening this evening and tomorrow morning to ensure robust plans are in place,” a spokeswoman for Johnson’s office told Reuters.
Germany, Ireland, Canada, Turkey, Italy and Belgium have also banned flights from the UK.
“Given the early evidence we have on this new variant of the virus, the potential risk it poses, it is with a very heavy heart I must tell you we cannot continue with Christmas as planned,” Johnson said on Saturday.
Transport Minister Grant Shapps urged Britons, to avoid travelling to ports in Kent in southern England, saying that, “we expect significant disruption in the area”.
Several British companies were engaged in last-minute stockpiling before December 31, when the transition period with the EU would end and new customs would come into effect. The travel ban is likely to affect these companies adversely.
The new strain of the virus is said to be 70 per cent more transmissible than the original, say, scientists, sparking fears of a wider spread.
