British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is holding an emergency meeting with Cabinet members after news of a fast-spreading variant of the coronavirus in the United Kingdom led to a flurry of travel bans, fears of supply chain disruptions, and sliding stocks.
The meeting was set to begin at 1:30 p.m. local time, according to the Scotsman. A spokesperson for No. 10 Downing St. said the meeting would address “international travel, in particular the steady flow of freight into and out of the U.K.”
Last week, the U.K. announced it identified a new stain of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Health Secretary Matt Hancock told Parliament that “this variant is growing faster than the existing variant,” prompting renewed lockdowns in London and parts of Essex, where the majority of new strain infections have been identified.
In response to the news, a number of countries halted flights to and from the U.K. — Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Belgium all halted flights on Sunday, with France also suspending freight trips across the English Channel.
On Monday, Britain’s ITV News reported that the entire European Union would impose a lockdown on travel to or from the U.K., with the potential exception of cargo trucks.
NEW: @itvnews understands trucks and lorries will be exempt from the EU travel ban imposed on the UK until midnight tomorrow https://t.co/HzEBxBcnKS
— Dominique Heckels (@Dominique_ITV) December 21, 2020
Johnson will hold a press conference Monday evening local time to address the COVID-19 crisis, according to Cambridgehsire Live.
France’s move in particular has had a damaging effect on market confidence. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down as many as 300 points ahead of Monday trading, according to Fox Business. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite opened on Monday down roughly 1%.
The decision to halt exports has intensified holiday shipping delays, according to CNN. Trucks remain backed up at the port of Dover in southeast England, and Kent police closed sections of the country’s M20 highway to “avoid gridlock” around the Eurotunnel.
About 500 lorries are queuing outside Dover, Kent Police said, as France closes its borders with the UK for 48 hours. pic.twitter.com/69xPa2f50y
— BBC South East (@bbcsoutheast) December 21, 2020
The sudden travel and export bans between the U.K. and the EU highlight the consequences of a potential no-deal Brexit looming at the end of the month. Negotiations remain stuck on access to fishing waters, but both sides are going “the extra mile” to reach an agreement.
Hancock told Parliament there is no evidence to suggest that the mutation has made the virus any deadlier or resistant to vaccines. Typically, as viruses mutate to become more contagious, they become less deadly because more deadly strains will kill hosts before transmitting the virus, according to Philadelphia’s College of Physicians.
This is not the first coronavirus mutation to accelerate transmission. In June, researchers determined that the strain of the coronavirus found most frequently in the United States and Europe was a mutation of the original virus identified in China and was as much as 10 times more contagious. As with the most recent mutation, that strain made the virus “more transmissible without resulting in a major observable difference in disease severity.”
