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The United Kingdom reached an agreement with France on Tuesday to reopen the borders.
The information was confirmed by the British Transport Minister on Twitter.
On the social network, Minister Grant Shapps said that this Tuesday they reached an agreement with the French Government on the borders. However, he did nothing more and sent more information to this Tuesday night.
Chaos of the English Channel
The new variant of the coronavirus, detected in the south of England, caused the European blockade of goods through the English Channel on Sunday night, one of the most important trade routes in Europe.
To this new strain is added Brexit, which on January 1 withdraws the United Kingdom from the European Union, which has led many businessmen to reinforce the transport of goods to British territory and has caused long queues of traffic and thousands of truckers who have been detained for days on both sides of the border.
About a thousand truckers They spent the second night inside vehicles parked in the county of Kent, southeast England, waiting for France to reopen the Channel Tunnel border. According to the British Government, 945 trucks from various countries were stopped near the port of Dover.
The UK was negotiating with France to go ahead with the tests of truck drivers that were conducted in the English Channel.
Countries suspend UK flights
More than 30 countries have banned flights and travel from the United Kingdom, including most of Europe, Canada, Turkey and Hong Kong and France, following the emergence of new variants of the coronavirus, at a time when the world is seeing affected by the second wave of the pandemic. .
This Tuesday, Germany extended “until January 6” the entry ban for people from the United Kingdom and South Africa, countries affected by the appearance of new variants of SARS-CoV-2, the authorities announced on Tuesday.
According to the German Ministry of Health, the suspension of “train, bus, ship and plane” connections and the general ban on the arrival of people from those countries were initially planned until December 31. Now, “the measure is valid from December 22 to January 6.”
The new strain detected in the UK could be 70% more contagious than the old one.
New strain identified in several countries
The new strain of SARS-CoV-2 is circulating in several countries and territories, within and outside of Europe.
Belgium, Gibraltar (British territory located in the extreme south of Spain and claimed by Madrid), Denmark and Australia are the most recent countries and territories where the new variant of the coronavirus responsible for the covid-19 disease has been identified, whose presence had already been previously confirmed. in the Netherlands, Italy or South Africa.
Belgium announced this Monday that it had detected the new variant of SARS-CoV-2 in the country, specifying that it has been circulating in Belgian territory for at least a month.
“This variant is not limited to the UK, it has already been detected in other parts of the world, including the Netherlands and Belgium.”said the spokesman for the Belgian technical team responsible for combating covid-19, virologist Yves Van Laethem.
In Gibraltar, there is at least one case of infection, a Downing Street spokesman (the office of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson) confirmed on Monday.
“Cases have been detected in Gibraltar, Denmark and Australia “said the Downing Street spokesman, in statements to the Spanish news agency EFE.
For his part, the French Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, indicated this Monday that “Until now” this new strain has not been identified in France.
“In recent days, scientists have analyzed 500 viral strains and this variant has not been found. This does not mean that it is not circulating.”said Olivier Véran, speaking to Europe 1.
Although so far no cases have been detected, the French Minister of Health admitted that “It is very possible that the variant is already circulating” in France.
Faced with this possibility, French President Emmanuel Macron asked for a strengthen “vigilance”.
In Portugal, Válter Fonseca, Director of Sanitary Quality Services of the DGS, He assured that it has not yet been detected. Válter Fonseca also said Tuesday that health authorities are monitoring “close up” the situation.
