LONDON (AP) – Around 1,000 British soldiers spent Christmas Day trying to eliminate a huge build-up of truck drivers trapped in the south-east of England after France briefly closed the border with the UK and then demanded coronavirus testing to all fears of a new, seemingly more contagious, virus variant.
While an estimated 4,000 international truck drivers spend another day in the cabs, some progress was evident on Friday, with traffic around the Channel Channel port of Dover moving in an orderly fashion towards the Additional ferries make the short voyage to Calais in northern France. The railway operator Eurotunnel also acted again, offering a way back to France.
Military personnel directed traffic and helped a massive test program for drivers, who must give negatives to enter France. French firefighters have also been recruited to help military drivers test the coronavirus. The Polish Territorial Defense Force also sent reinforcements to help test and distribute food.
British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said he had instructed the army to take control of the tests as part of efforts to get “foreign carriers home with their families as quickly as possible”.
Transportation department officials have said all but three tests conducted so far have been negative. Those who test positive are offered accommodation. Most of the tests are conducted at a disused airfield at Manston Airport, 33 miles from Dover.
France closed its border for 48 hours with the United Kingdom last Sunday after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said a variant of the virus that is 70% more communicable is driving the rapid spread of infections in London and the United States. surrounding areas. As a result, the capital and many other parts of England have seen lock-in restrictions tightened and family holiday meetings canceled.
Free food and drink were sent to stranded truck drivers and more than 250 portable toilets were placed in Manston, with another 32 placed along the blocked M20 highway. The British Coast Guard said its teams in the Dover area had so far delivered 3,000 hot meals, 600 pizzas and 2,985 packed lunches.
“The most reassuring thing is that the food is being streamed in Manston and I have to thank all those who volunteered to help the drivers keep them cool during the days leading up to Christmas,” said Duncan Buchanan, of Great Britain. Road Transport Association.
The mood among the trapped drivers appeared to be mostly bloody, especially compared to their anger earlier this week over the situation and lack of facilities.
The virus has been blamed for more than 1.7 million confirmed deaths worldwide. On Friday, the UK recorded another 570 virus-related deaths, reaching 70,195, the second highest death toll in Europe behind Italy.
On Saturday, Britain extends tighter blockade restrictions to more areas as authorities try to curb the spread of the new variant. Over the past two days, the UK has recorded its two highest daily infection figures, just below 40,000. This raises fears that the country’s esteemed National Health Service will face acute capacity problems at its hospitals soon and thousands more will die from the virus.
In a video message to the nation, Johnson said this Christmas “was not about gifts, or turkey, or brandy butter,” but about hope, in the form of coronavirus vaccines and development of more vaccines.
“We know there will be people alive next Christmas, people we love, live next Christmas precisely because we made the sacrifice and we didn’t celebrate normally this Christmas,” the prime minister said.
Johnson said on Thursday that more than 800,000 people in Britain have received the first dose of the vaccine developed by US pharmaceutical firm Pfizer and German biotechnology company BioNTech. The United Kingdom was the first country in the world to approve the vaccine and began inoculations for health workers and those over 80 on December 8th.
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