London, Dec. 26, (dpa/GNA) – The British government has stepped up its efforts to clear the traffic jam of thousands of lorries stuck in southern England for days after borders were shut due to the emergence of a new, possibly more contagious variant of the coronavirus.
The Ministry of Defence on Friday said it was “deploying a further 800 personnel to Kent today to support an increase in the testing capabilities to help clear the backlog of vehicles and ensure traffic can begin to move at a closer to normal pace through Dover.” This is on top of 300 soldiers already deployed there.
Poland also sent a 60-strong army medical team to Dover on Friday to help out Polish lorry drivers. In addition, it has provided 15,000 coronavirus tests and distributed food.
Some 1,260 truckers had already been tested by a team of nurses and doctors from Poland by Friday morning, the head of the Polish prime minister’s chancellery Michal Dworczyk said.
“We are determined that all Polish lorry drivers come home,” said Dworczyk on Twitter. Several thousand are said to be stuck.
Still, it is expected to take days for the backlog to clear.
Thousands of long-distance lorry drivers had been stuck in England since Sunday, after France completely closed its border.
On Wednesday, an agreement was reached between London and Paris, under which drivers will have to undergo a rapid test for the virus before they are allowed to cross the Channel by ship or through the Eurotunnel.
British Transport Minister Grant Shapps said on Friday that some 10,000 tests had been done by the afternoon. Some 4,500 lorries had been cleared to cross the Channel, he added.
“Our aim is to get foreign hauliers home with their families as quickly as we can,” the news agency PA quoted him as saying earlier.
But more than 5,000 trucks remain stuck at the disused Manston airfield and a cordoned-off section of the M20 motorway, reported PA.
Many of the drivers had complained that they were running out of water and food. There are also not enough toilets.
France detected its first case of the new coronavirus variant on Friday, news agency AFP reported, citing the French health ministry.
The infection was found in a French national who travelled from London to France on December 19. They are asymptomatic, AFP reported.
GNA