UK government fears food shortage, considers testing of truckers from France

The British
government on Tuesday announced considering a plan to conduct mass testing for
truck drivers, as part of talks with French authorities, to end the chaos
wrecked by the suspension of freight traffic as a new and graver coronavirus
strain continues to cause havoc in the nation, AFP reported.

“Tests in ports is an absolute part of the discussion. We have to do everything we can.”
British Home Secretary Priti Patel told Sky News on Tuesday.

“We’re in
discussion with our French counterparts… and we will find a resolution”
Patel added.

The statements
came in the heels of France’s Sunday decision to suspend all arrivals from the
United Kingdom for 48 hours.

While several other
countries, including India, imposed flight bans on Britain, France extended the restriction
to freight routes, resulting in significant shortage of food supplies in the
country, that too around Christmas.

Andrew Opie,
director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, said the
“borders really need to be running pretty much freely from tomorrow to
assure us that there won’t be any disruption.”

“There is a
problem potentially directly after Christmas and that is really in fresh
produce, so we’re talking here about things like salad, vegetables, fresh
fruit, of which the vast majority come from Europe at this time,” he told
BBC Radio 4.

He also stated that around 650 trucks are currently blocked on the motorway leading from London to the port of Dover since Sunday evening.

“The empty
lorries which are now stuck in Kent, they need to get back to places like Spain
to pick up the next consignment of raspberries and strawberries,” added Opie.

Borris Johnson’s administration, however, is in conversation with Paris to sort a way to get goods flowing back into the country after many countries
imposed travel bans.

Meanwhile, Britain is plunged into new crisis last week with the emergence of a fresh strain of the
virus, which is believed to be up to 70% more transmissible than other
forms.