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Britain and France reopened their border to some travelers on Tuesday and moved a little closer to a deal that would allow freight trucks to resume movement between the two countries, raising hopes of relief for hundreds of drivers trapped near the British ports and for supermarkets that warn they could soon do so. they run out of fruits and vegetables.
On Sunday, France closed its border for 48 hours for fear of the spread of a new and possibly more transmissible variant of the coronavirus in Britain. That left more than 1,500 trucks stranded in the southeast while the Port of Dover and the Eurotunnel were closed to outbound traffic. Some drivers slept in their trucks for two nights.
As talks to break the impasse continued, France announced Tuesday night that select groups of people would be allowed to travel from Britain to France if they could present evidence of a recent negative coronavirus test.
Those who can now travel include French and European Union citizens, non-citizens with permanent residence in France, and others whose travel is considered essential. They include diplomats, healthcare workers helping France’s fight against Covid-19, and drivers and crews on passenger planes, trains and buses.
Dozens of nations have rushed to close their borders with Britain in recent days over concerns that a newly discovered variant of the coronavirus is spreading there. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said over the weekend that it had been shown to be more contagious than other variants. British officials said there was no reason to believe that the new variant caused a more serious disease, and most experts doubt it will make current vaccines ineffective.
The relaxation of France’s travel restrictions followed a call by the executive arm of the European Union for member states to lift blanket bans on air and train travel. Instead, it recommends testing or quarantines.
“Flight and train bans should be suspended given the need to guarantee essential travel and avoid supply chain disruptions,” the European Commission said in a statement.
Hours earlier, Dr. Ugur Sahin, co-founder of BioNTech, which developed the first vaccine approved in the West in partnership with Pfizer, said it would take two weeks to conduct laboratory studies that would provide a more complete understanding of how mutations could affect the efficacy of the vaccine.
“We believe there is no reason to worry until we get the data,” he said.
If a tailored vaccine is necessary, it could be ready in six weeks, Dr. Sahin said at a news conference on Tuesday. But it would require additional approval from regulators, which could increase the lead time, he said.
The new variant, first detected several months ago, spread across south-eastern England and has also been identified in small numbers in Denmark, the Netherlands and Australia, according to officials from the World Health Organization.
WHO tried to temper the growing sense of alarm about the new variant and the danger it represents. “At this time, there is no evidence that there is an increase in severity associated with this disease,” Mike Ryan, WHO director of emergencies, said in a virtual press conference.
The United States has not imposed a travel ban on Great Britain. There are no confirmed cases of the variant circulating in the United States, but that does not mean that it has not yet reached US shores.
The rush to try to defeat the pathogen by closing borders brought back memories of the world’s reaction after the coronavirus first emerged in the spring. Most of those initial travel bans came too late, after the virus had already spread to communities around the world.
Some experts say the tactic threatens to cause further financial and emotional hardship, as the devastation caused by the virus continues to grow. And since it is not known how widely the variant is circulating, the bans may not even slow it down much.
“It’s idiotic,” was the overwhelming assessment of Dr. Peter Kremsner, director of the University Hospital of Tübingen in Germany. “If this mutant were only on the island, only then does it make sense to close the borders to England, Scotland and Wales. But if it has spread, then we have to fight the new mutant everywhere. “
