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Britain Holds Urgent Talks With France to Lift Coronavirus Blockade

Jamie Dettmer

   Britain became more isolated Monday as additional countries imposed
   bans on British commercial airline flights, automobile journeysand
   cross-Channel trains and freight because of rising international alarm
   over a more infectious coronavirus strain that has flared in London and
   southern England.

   Countries imposing travel bans include France, Germany, Italy,
   Switzerland, Poland, Belgium, Austria, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, India
   and Canada. In all, more than 40 countries have instituted bans on
   arrivals at their airports from Britain.

   U.S. politicians were also pushing to halt all flights from Britain to
   America. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo urged federal officials to ban or
   at least set stringent travel restrictions on Britons. He warned that
   the new, more easily transmitted strain could spread to New York from
   the half-a-dozen flights a day that land at JFK airport from Britain.

   On Sunday, France took the unprecedented step of completely shutting
   its borders to Britain, initially for 48 hours. That has prevented
   British freight drivers from accessing mainland Europe and deterred
   European cargo-handlers from dispatching goods to Britain, disrupting
   supply chains and raising the prospects of food and drug shortages in
   Britain over the Christmas holiday season.

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