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A team of French firefighters has been dispatched to Dover with 10,000 coronavirus tests for truck drivers under a renewed Franco-British mission to allow shippers to cross the Channel on Christmas Day.
France’s ambassador to the UK Catherine Colonna said the two countries were “neighbors, partners, allies and (yes) friends” and that 26 firefighters had carried thousands of rapid response tests to the port on Christmas Eve.
An image posted on Twitter by Colonna, using the hashtags #StrongerTogether and #thursdayvibes, showed the firefighters conducting Covid tests on carriers before dawn Thursday.
Catherine Colonna
(@AmbColonna)Neighbors, partners, allies and (yes) friends !! 26 🇨🇵 firefighters work together with 🇬🇧 teams in #Dover since this morning. They brought 10,000 # COVID-19 tests. # Stronger together #thursday https://t.co/n1StINADIh pic.twitter.com/bnDhmDuD5M
The move came as UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps promised ferries would set sail on Christmas Day and December 26 to help clear the jam caused by a 48-hour French-imposed border closure in an attempt to stop the new hyper-infectious Covid. variant of crossing the Canal.
Tensions at the port escalated on Wednesday when truck drivers, many of whom had been stuck in Dover for more than 48 hours with limited resources, protested with UK officials.
Cases
Up to 10,000 trucks were estimated to be backed up around England’s south coast ports, including a truck park at Manston Airfield, where 170 members of the military were called in to assist with the NHS-led effort to test the drivers that got underway on Wednesday morning.
But before dawn on Christmas Eve, with a momentous Brexit trade deal within hours of being unveiled, a new vision of Franco-British cooperation emerged in Dover.
The French Embassy in the United Kingdom tweeted: “26 French firefighters arrived early at #Dover this morning, bringing with them 10,000 evidence of # Covid19. They are already working closely with the British on the ground, testing the pilots on the way to France! #StrongerTogether #FrancoBritishFriendship “
It’s unclear why the 10,000 French tests were needed in Kent (the UK government said Wednesday night it had four mobile test sites up and running and another five were being installed), but Shapps appreciated the help.
The ministers, who have been negotiating all week with their French counterpart to unblock the ports, tweeted: “In addition to ensuring that the ferries will now set sail on Christmas and St. Stephen, we also have great cooperation from the French firefighters working with the NHS test and trace and our brilliant army in a great effort to eliminate the delay created by the closure of the French border. “
The Department of Transport and the French embassy in the UK were contacted for comment.
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