BORIS Johnson will give a press conference this evening on the mutant Covid strain which forced France to dramatically shut borders.
The PM will speak from Downing Street as over 16 million people were thrown into a new Tier 4 over the weekend, plunging a third of England into chaos just days before Christmas.
The PM is expected to speak at 5pm this evening, just days after his national address on Saturday.
Mr Johnson was forced to tell people living within Tier 4 areas to cancel their Christmas plans and stay at home once again.
And Brits across the country have been given “stay local” orders, to stop the virus spreading.
Christmas bubbles were almost entirely scrapped with those living in Tiers 1, 2 and 3 only able to meet loved ones for one day.
The super-spreading new mutation of Covid-19 could be as much as 70 per cent more contagious, Government boffins said over the weekend.
Mr Johnson said it was with “bitter regret” he was having to backtrack on promises of Christmas reunions.
To add to the chaos, France closed all routes by air, sea and the Eurotunnel from the UK, and lorries snaked for as many as seven miles through Kent trying to get to the border.
Mr Johnson is chairing a Cobra meeting this afternoon to address the scenes of mayhem at the border.
Boris faces a nightmare before Christmas today as:
- France shut the border with the UK – forcing lorries with goods to line up for hours on both sides
- It was feared food supplies may be affected within hours – with Sainsburys warning about veg and fruit in the run up to Christmas
- Millions were stranded or unable to travel after a string of countries banned flights to the UK over the new coronavirus strain
- A third of the country was plunged into Tier 4 yesterday – effectively another lockdown – cancelling Christmas for thousands of families
- MPs demanded a vote be held as soon as possible
- More than £33 billion was wiped off the FTSE 100 within minutes of opening over the chaos
The border shut down caused frenzied fear over food shortages, with Sainsbury’s and the British Retail Consortium warning fruit and veg could run out after Christmas.
A spokesperson for the supermarket said: “All products for the Great British Christmas lunch are already in the country and we have plenty of these.
“We are also sourcing everything we can from the UK and looking into alternative transport for product sourced from Europe.
“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.
“We hope the UK and French governments can come to a mutually agreeable solution that prioritises the immediate passage of produce and any other food at the ports.”
Though, the French Transport Secretary Jean-Baptises Djebbari said the 48-hour shutdown could be eased within hours.
But French President Emmanuel Macron said this could require lorry drivers to hand over a negative Covid PCR tests – which would mean the UK would need to very quickly ramp up mass testing infrastructure in Kent.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock caused further dismay yesterday, after he suggested Tier 4 rules could stay in place for months – until the vaccination is rolled out to the most vulnerable people.
It has fuelled fears, Tier 4 could be extended to other parts of the UK, as frantic Londoners tried to escape the capital ahead of the new lockdown.
Speaking about the new strain of the virus, Professor Openshaw of Imperial College London, a member of Government advisory committee Nervtag, told The Times: “It’s very unlikely anything less than really effective measures are going to control it.
“My concern is people are not going to comply. It’s really important people appreciate the danger.
“It does seem inevitable it will spread but it doesn’t mean it’s useless trying to prevent that from happening.”
He added that it may be “necessary to extend” the Tier 4 restrictions further into England as the virus spreads.
And there were scenes of chaos at airports as France and a host of other European countries, including Germany and Italy, slapped travel bans on anyone coming from the UK.
Some Brits were held against against their will, as the EU scrambled to stop the new strain making its way to the Continent.
In Germany, officials at Hanover airport set up campbeds for 63 people who arrived from Britain.
Nurses in hazmat suits were screening the last arrivals from the UK on Sunday night as angry passengers were told to sleep in the terminal building.
