Virus-linked isolation eases but backlog persists

DOVER (AP):

Gridlock at an English port kept thousands of truckers and travellers stranded on Wednesday, despite a deal with France to lift a two-day blockade imposed because of a new variant of the coronavirus that had isolated Britain and raised fears of food shortages.

While some goods and passengers began arriving on French shores in the morning, many still struggled to get through. With officials warning that the backlog would take days to clear, frustrated truckers scuffled with police at the port of Dover. Some have suggested the chaos was a precursor to what Britain may face if it doesn’t come to a trade agreement with the European Union before it leaves the bloc’s economic embrace on December 31.

“Looking around, it doesn’t really seem that there’s a lot of progress being made here,” said Ben Richtzenhaim, a financial services worker who drove overnight from Scotland in the hope of getting home to Germany by car. “People are still not moving out of the way, and the authorities are not doing something, either. So it’s a real deadlock.”

Nations around the world began barring people from Britain over the weekend after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that scientists said a new version of the virus whipping around London and England’s southeast may be more contagious. The announcement added to anxieties at a time when Europe has been walloped by soaring new virus infections and deaths.

On Wednesday, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that another new variant – from South Africa – has turned up in Britain, and announced restrictions on travel from the African country.

French Ban causing Alarm

Some European countries relaxed their travel limits on Britain on Wednesday, though many remain in place. Still, it was France’s ban on freight that caused the most alarm and led to a feeling of intense isolation on the island nation, since the UK relies heavily on its cross-Channel commercial links to the continent for food at this time of year, especially fresh fruit and vegetables.

Fears of food shortages added to an already glum run-up to Christmas in Britain, where authorities have scaled back or cancelled plans to relax restrictions for the holiday as daily virus infections soar and many hospitals are nearing capacity.

Britain reported another 744 deaths and a record 39,237 confirmed cases on Wednesday, and the health secretary said that millions more people in England would come under the country’s most severe restrictions from December 26. The rules, which close all non-essential shops and ban households from mixing indoors, already cover London and surrounding areas.

Eurostar passenger train services also resumed from Britain to the continent, but only for citizens of Europe’s border-free zone, British citizens with EU residency, and those with a special reason to come temporarily, such as truckers.

Liza Peirrusio, an Italian living in London, travelled to Paris on Wednesday to spend the holidays with her boyfriend.

“I’ve never been so happy to be a European citizen,” she said as she got off the first Eurostar to arrive since the weekend.