At least 30 countries, including 17 in the neighboring European Union, have banned travel from the UK after the British government warned that a new variant of the coronavirus could be up to 70% more transmissible.
Why it’s important: Supply chains are being disrupted a few days before the UK ends the Brexit transition period without a free trade agreement with the EU, its largest and closest trading partner. A Brexit without an agreement could cause massive damage to a British economy that has already been devastated by the pandemic.
Driving the news: According to the AP, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will hold an advisory meeting after France announced on Sunday that it would close its borders for 48 hours, blocking ports that account for about 20% of UK goods trade.
- The government has urged people not to travel to Kent County, which is home to many of the multi-channel ports used to access the European continent and sees around 10,000 freight trucks a day via the Dover-Calais crossing.
- European Union officials will meet on Monday to discuss a coordinated response to the new variant of the coronavirus, which has been detected in Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands, according to the BBC.
Between lines: So far there is no evidence that the new variant of coronavirus is more deadly, only that it seems more transmissible. There is also no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines are less effective against the new variant.
- The discovery of the apparent increase in transmissibility forced Johnson to change direction this weekend in a plan to ease coronavirus restrictions for five days to allow the British to travel to see family and friends over Christmas.
- A few days after Johnson said the Christmas cancellation would be “inhumane,” the government ordered in London and the south-east of England – where Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the new variant “is uncontrollable “- to enter the strictest form of closure.
The big picture: Significant disruptions in travel and trade occur less than two weeks before the end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December.
- A Brexit without an agreement with the EU, which negotiators now consider “very likely”, had already been expected to cause massive chaos in ports that have now been blocked due to coronavirus-related border closures.
- Freight routes between England and France were already heavily congested due to pre-Brexit storage by British companies. Sunday’s images showed trucks with setbacks for miles.
- Critics of the Johnson administration have demanded that he call for an extension of the transition period, fearing that crises plagued by a Brexit without an agreement and an out-of-control pandemic could be catastrophic for the British economy. Johnson, who was elected with his promise to deliver Brexit, has consistently ruled out an extension.
In depth: UK and EU prepare for no-deal Brexit cliff as trade talks falter