The United Kingdom and France have resumed freight traffic across the English Channel almost in full after the launch of rapid COVID-19 testing of truck drivers, the Financial Times newspaper reported on Thursday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th December, 2020) The United Kingdom and France have resumed freight traffic across the English Channel almost in full after the launch of rapid COVID-19 testing of truck drivers, the Financial Times newspaper reported on Thursday.
Earlier on Thursday, the French Embassy in the UK said that Paris had deployed 26 firefighters with thousands of COVID-19 test kits to the port of Dover, a major transit hub between France and the UK, to help accelerate the passage for trucks blocked in the area due to fresh restrictions caused by the new coronavirus strain.
The Getlink company, which manages the infrastructure of the Channel Tunnel between the UK and France, said that about 120-150 trucks cross the tunnel per hour on Thursday, the newspaper reported.
After London announced last week that it had discovered a highly contagious new variant of the coronavirus, France closed borders with the UK, leaving thousands of lorry drivers stranded in the UK's southeastern border county of Kent, unable to cross the English Channel. However, on Tuesday, Paris agreed to lift the ban on the entrance to the country for those who test negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours.
