Boris Johnson plans to impose tough measures on hauliers travelling from France to the U.K. as risk of Coronavirus variant getting into UK turns high
The Prime Minister of United Kingdom (U.K.) – Boris Johnson is planning to impose tougher measures on hauliers travelling from France to the U.K. as risk of Coronavirus (COVID-19) variants getting into U.K. turn high.
The restrictions on movement from France are critical as France has reported a spike in COVID-19 cases arising out of the variant found in South Africa, U.K. and Brazil. The red list is a part of travel regulations aimed at stopping the COVID-19 variant to enter U.K. All the people arriving to U.K. are required to pay for quarantine in a hotel.
The Prime Minister Johnson was also questioned in the British Parliament for not adding France to the U.K.’s travel red list. Johnson replied that U.K. needs to keep a balance between public health and trade with European nation.
Every week, 20,000 people such as lorry drivers enter U.K. from France and 2/3rd of them are exempted from restrictions. France has so far reported 3,000 cases of South Africa and Brazil variant.
While the Member of Parliaments (MPs) acknowledged that quarantine would be not appropriate and would deeply impact trade, they said that COVID-19 test should not be ruled out. Johnson agreed that adding France to the red list is something that his Government will consider. He told the MPs that the decision would be taken after evaluating the disruption that would be caused by adding France to the red list.
Speaking on the occasion, Johnson said, “We will take a decision, no matter how tough, to interrupt those flows, if we think it is necessary to protect public health. It may be that we have to do that very soon.”
He also stated that 75% of the U.K.’s medicines and 50% of its food comes through short straits (Dover-Calais, ferry and tunnel).
Meanwhile, the Health Minister of U.K. – Lord Bethell indicated that there is a possibility that every European country could face a ban. However, this would be done with great regret.
In December 2020, France closed its borders for 2 days to arrivals from the U.K. including hauliers. This led to queues of thousands of lorries trying to cross the channel, which was eased after France agreed to allow hauliers to cross once they had a negative COVID-19 test result.
Separately, under the lockdown rules, holiday travel is not allowed in U.K. and abroad. The Government has also recently announced the new rules, under which a fine of £ 5,000 would be imposed for travelling outside U.K. without a valid reason.
