A HOST of countries have closed their borders to Britain over fears of a highly infectious new coronavirus strain in moves which have sparked travel chaos and raised the prospect of UK food shortages days before the Brexit cliff edge.

Reports yesterday afternoon said that the whole of the EU was now not allowing travel from the UK, however these were not confirmed as we went to press.

As the crisis began to escalate on Sunday, France blocked all freight lorries from crossing the Channel, causing major disruption at ports in Kent and closing off one of the most important trade arteries with mainland Europe.

Boris Johnson yesterday chaired an emergency response meeting to discuss the situation which comes just 10 days ahead of the UK leaving the Brexit transition period.

Nicola Sturgeon and the leaders of the Welsh and Northern Ireland devolved governments took part in the Cobra meeting too. EU officials also held a meeting on coordinating their response to the crisis.

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Addressing the French ban on UK freight haulage – which is hitting Scottish seafood exporters – Sturgeon said ahead of the meeting there is “no risk” to supplies of the Covid-19 vaccine and no “immediate concern” over medicine supply, because stocks had been built up ahead of Brexit.

She urged people not to stockpile food, saying: “We have been assured by supermarkets that they are well stocked for Christmas.”

She called for the activation of No-Deal Brexit plans for port disruption, backed the Scottish food sector’s requests for UK Government action to enable exports to continue and reiterated an earlier demand for the Prime Minister to seek an extension to the Brexit transition period.

Amid the chaos, supermarket chain Sainsbury’s said shortages would start to appear within days if transport ties were not quickly restored.

“If nothing changes, we will start to see gaps over the coming days on lettuce, some salad leaves, cauliflowers, broccoli and citrus fruit – all of which are imported from the continent at this time of year,” Sainsbury’s said.

Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Israel and Canada have all suspended travel from the UK – although scientists said the strain may already be circulating in countries with less advanced detection methods than the UK.

India, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Russia, Jordan and Hong Kong have also suspended travel for Britons after Johnson warned that a mutated variant of the virus, up to 70% more transmissible, had been identified in the country. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman closed their borders completely.

A 48-hour ban on flights to Ireland from Britain came into effect from midnight on Sunday, while ferries to Ireland will be limited to freight travel, as part of measures aimed at reducing the spread of the new strain of Covid-19.

France’s FNTR national road haulage federation said: “No driver wants to deliver to the UK now, so the UK is going to see its freight supply dry up.”

The new variant and restrictions in Britain compound the chaos as the country prepares to part ways with the EU, possibly without a trade deal, when the Brexit transition period ends on December 31.

The new variant is rapidly becoming the dominant strain in parts of southern England, including London.

Experts stressed, though, that there was no evidence that vaccines, including the one made by Pfizer and BioNTech being deployed in Britain, would not protect against this variant.

Cases of the new strain have also been detected in some other countries, including Italy and the Netherlands. Some scientists said the prevalence discovered in Britain might be down to detection.

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“Britain is simply the country which finds these mutations the most because they are looking for them more. There are countries that hardly search or do not search at all,” Marc Van Ranst, a virologist from the Rega Institute for Medical Research in Belgium, told Belgian broadcaster VRT.

Meanwhile, Operation Stack is being implemented on the coastbound carriageway of the M20 between Junctions 9 and 11, Kent Police have said.

The force said it was “a contingency measure following the French government’s announcement it will not accept any passengers arriving from the UK for the next 48 hours, and the subsequent closures of the Port of Dover and Channel Tunnel”.

Operation Stack is where parts of the M20 are used to queue lorries travelling towards the continent and is only introduced as an emergency measure after consultation with other agencies.