UK travel news live: India and France join travel ban, leaving thousands stranded and flights canceled

Downing Street said the UK government was in contact with French authorities about a ban on trucks from crossing the canal.

When asked if Boris Johnson believed the French action was justified, the prime minister’s official spokesman said: “Obviously, we are working very closely with our international partners and we are urgently working to minimize disruption as much as possible.” .

The spokesman added that “we are in close contact with the French to try to get this resolved.”

Brett Giroir, the US undersecretary for health, said “anything is possible” when it comes to whether the Trump administration would implement a travel ban on flights originating from the UK.

“We are awaiting the recommendations of the CDC. Last night, talking to Dr. [Robert] Redfield [the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] there was no recommendation for that. Every hour we get more information. We need to hear from the best experts … but as of now I have no new updates on this.

“I think everything should be on the table. We need to look at the data, we have to examine the science, understand the risks, and then make a decision. Anything is possible.”

He said the new strain was no more deadly or more dangerous than the current coronavirus. And he said there was no evidence that it would affect the vaccines that are being rolled out.

While European travel bans have dominated, Latin American nations have also moved to limit their exposure to the newly identified Covid strain in the UK.

Argentina, Chile and Colombia have suspended all direct flights to and from the UK, while El Salvador has banned anyone from entering the country from the UK.

Eurostar said it could not operate trains from London to Paris, Brussels, Lille or Amsterdam on Monday or Tuesday.

Trains in the opposite direction, to London from Paris, will continue to operate, and the railway company said it plans to resume services to and from the UK on Wednesday.

Eurotunnel said that access to its site in the UK was prohibited from 10pm after its last train departed at 9.34pm.

The Dover ferry terminal also closed to “all accompanied traffic leaving the UK” after France moved to close its border.

Kuwait will close its border and ban all international commercial flights until 2021.

Land crossings, airports and seaports will close from tonight until January 1, the government said.

The Covid-19 vaccination program will not be affected by France’s ban on UK cargo trucks, the Transport Secretary said.

Grant Shapps said the disruption at the English Channel ports in Kent “will not have an impact” on the supply of the coronavirus vaccine in the UK as contingency plans are in place.

He told BBC Breakfast on Monday that while “a few precious trucks” transported the Pfizer / BioNTech jab, it was mostly imported in containers that were not affected by the restrictions.

The US State Department has said that its travel advisory for Great Britain remains unchanged at Level 3 – a “reconsider travel” alert that is below the “no travel” level 4 warning.

The State Department website guide says: “UK transport options are still limited but still working.”

However, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo has said he wanted to ban flights from Britain to New York City because of the new strain.

“Right now, this variant in the UK is getting on a plane and flying to JFK,” he was quoted as saying. Washington Post as said.

His call to action comes just days after Donald Trump was rumored to be considering relaxing current travel restrictions that prohibit most people in the UK from traveling to the US.

Ferry company Stena Line has introduced a planned duplication of its direct freight service from Ireland to France in response to “high demand” from Irish carriers affected by the closure of the French border to arrivals from Great Britain.

While freight services were exempted from Ireland’s ban on traveling to Britain on Sunday for fear of a new strain of coronavirus, around 3,000 trucks take the shortest route to mainland Europe via the so-called British “land bridge.” weekly.

Stena had planned to add a second ship to its service from Ireland’s Rosslare port to the French port of Cherbourg from January 4, doubling the number of weekly sailings to six when Britain’s Brexit transition period hit its end.

Instead, the service will begin from Tuesday, the ferry company said.

Boris Johnson announced on December 19 that sweeping new travel restrictions would go into effect starting the morning of December 20.

Here is our travel editor, Qin Xie, on what you need to know about how it affects travel:

Tunisia and Jordan have joined the rapidly expanding list of countries banning flights from the UK.

Tunisia’s transport ministry said that all flights arriving, departing and transiting between Tunisian airports and the United Kingdom, South Africa and Australia will be suspended.

Travelers residing or passing through those countries will not be allowed entry.

The restrictions would be in effect until further notice, the ministry said in a Facebook post.

Jordan also announced that it would suspend flights to and from the UK until January 3.