British army helps clear backlog of virus-stranded drivers

Around 1,000 British soldiers were spending Christmas Day trying to clear a huge backlog of truck drivers stuck in souast England after France briefly closed its border to U.K. n demanded coronavirus tests from all amid fears of a new, apparently more contagious, virus variant.

Even as 4,000 international truck drivers spent yet ar day cooped up in ir cabs, some progress was evident Friday, with traffic around English Channel port of Dover moving in an orderly fashion towards extra ferries that were put on to make short crossing across to Calais in rrn France.

military personnel were directing traffic and helping a mass testing program for drivers, who must test negative to enter France. French firefighters have also been drafted to help military test drivers for coronavirus.

Officials from Britain's Department for Transport said all but three of 2,367 coronavirus tests conducted so far have been negative.

France closed its border for 48 hours to U.K. last Sunday after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said a variant of virus that is 70% more transmissible is driving rapid spread of infections in London and surrounding areas. As a result, capital and many or parts of England have seen lockdown restrictions tightened and family holiday garings cancelled.

Most of testing is being conducted at a disused airfield at Manston Airport, 20 miles (33 kilometers) from Dover. Free food and drink was being sent to stranded truck drivers and more than 250 portable toilets were put in at Manston, with 32 ors placed along gridlocked M20 highway.

“ most reassuring thing is that food is getting through at Manston, and I have to say a big thank you to everyone who volunteered to help drivers stick it out in cold conditions in days leading up to Christmas," said Duncan Buchanan of Britain's Road Haul Association.

mood among stranded drivers appeared to be mostly sanguine, especially compared to ir anger earlier this week at situation and lack of facilities.

“I kw it’s been hard for many drivers cooped up in ir cabs at this precious time of year, but I assure m that we are doing our utmost to get m home," said British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.

virus has been blamed for over 1.7 million confirmed deaths worldwide, including nearly 70,000 in Britain, second-highest death toll in Europe behind Italy.

On Saturday, Britain is extending tighter lockdown restrictions to more areas as authorities try to stem spread of new variant. Over past two days, U.K. has recorded its two highest daily infection numbers, at just below 40,000. That is stoking fears that country's beloved National Health Service will face acute capacity issues in its hospitals soon and thousands more people will die from virus.

In a video mess to nation, Johnson said this Christmas was “t about presents, or turkey, or brandy butter” but about hope, in form of coronavirus vaccine shots being delivered and more vaccines being developed.

“We kw re will be people alive next Christmas, people we love, alive next Christmas precisely because we made sacrifice and didn’t celebrate as rmal this Christmas," prime minister said.

Johnson said Thursday that more than 800,000 people in Britain have received first dose of vaccine developed by American pharmaceutical firm Pfizer and German biotechlogy company BioNTech. U.K. was first country in world to approve vaccine and began iculations for health workers and those over 80 on Dec. 8.

(Im credit: AP)