A sad birthday night for thousands of European drivers ... and many countries are returning to stone

Thousands of European drivers spend a gloomy and unexpected Christmas Eve after they were stranded at the British port of Dover, which began gradually emerging from isolation restrictions imposed since the British authorities announced a new strain of the emerging Corona virus.

Several countries, such as Italy, Austria, Ireland and Israel were returning quarantine restrictions, or preparing for this, at the gates of the end of the year celebrations.

And if Dover Port, the most prominent British port to cross the English Channel, reopened its doors on Wednesday after two days of interruption of business, then transport with France slowly resumes, and it will take "a few days" to ease congestion in the region, where long lines of trucks and parked machinery extend, according to London. .

This angered drivers who are awaiting the date of their return home for Christmas.

They do not know when they will be able to leave, as they are forced to submit a negative test for Covid-19 in order to be able to cross to the European mainland through the French port of Calais.

At the former Manston Airport, where the British government is subjecting thousands of drivers to Covid-19 checks, "everyone is telling us to come here and wait, but we don't want to wait," says Polish driver Ezerdas Swaga.

"I have two children and a wife, I just want to join them" in Poland, he adds.

Macron gets out of isolation

On the French side, unloading of passenger vehicles from Dover resumed in Calais, but ferry traffic was erratic.

Brussels criticized France on Thursday for the restrictions it imposed on the United Kingdom, and the European Transport Commissioner said that ten thousand European truck drivers face difficulty returning to the continent.

"We called for proportionate and non-discriminatory measures and the lifting of restrictions on truck drivers," said Adina Vallian, after denouncing, via Twitter, "the fact that France did not follow our recommendations," which was rejected by the French Minister of State for European Affairs Clement Bonn.

While public transport traditionally stops operating in the UK on Christmas Day and only resumes partially the next day, British Transport Secretary Grant Shaps announced in a tweet Thursday that rail and sea lines between the UK and France will continue operating over Christmas to facilitate crossings. .

Meanwhile, the French presidency announced in a statement that President Emmanuel Macron, who tested positive for Covid-19 on December 17th, "no longer suffers from symptoms" and can thus end the isolation he had started.

Italy goes back to stone

Italy, the country most affected in Europe by the epidemic with 70,000 deaths, entered a new phase, Thursday, of restrictions in the face of the new Corona outbreak, extending to January 6, and includes limiting movements despite the neglect of family visits on holidays.

The streets of Rome were not empty on Thursday, as locals took out their dogs and shopped for Christmas dinner.

Grocery stores, pharmacies and laundries will remain open, as will cafes and restaurants for take-out.

Demand for Covid-19 tests has increased in pharmacies in recent days, amid long queues of people wanting to be tested in tents set up outside.

While scientists are still worried about the new strain of Covid-19 discovered on the northern bank of the Manch, another mutation discovered in South Africa is of greater concern.

And this new strain appears to be transmitted faster than the old ones, say the researchers who discovered it in South Africa.

Research on vaccines made great strides last year, similar to those related to treatments. On Thursday, the French Enoterm group announced that it had a "national priority for research" status for its study that reached stage 2-A about the potential drug "nangibotide".

Record numbers in Russia

In Israel, the authorities announced today, Thursday, a third closure, which begins Sunday and extends for at least two weeks, with the aim of reducing the high number of HIV infections a few days after the launch of a vaccination campaign.

Residents of this country will not be able to move more than one kilometer in the vicinity of their homes, and most shops will be closed.

In Ireland, a third closure also begins Thursday in the face of an "extraordinary" rise in injuries, as well as in Austria, although Vienna has allowed the opening of more than 400 ski resorts in the country.

As for Russia, the fourth most affected country in the world, on Thursday, it recorded record numbers of new injuries and deaths, in light of the failure to approve a general closure despite the second wave that hit it.

The authorities announced the death of 635 people and the injury of 29,935 in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of injuries to more than 2 million 960 thousand and deaths to 53 thousand and 96.

While the vaccination campaigns begin Sunday in the European Union, more than a million Americans received the first dose, and that was ten days ago, according to Robert Redfield, director of the main Federal Authority for Public Health, announced Wednesday.

In the face of the outbreak of the epidemic in Brazil, the municipality of Rio de Janeiro will prevent access in the evening of December 31 to the famous Copacabana Beach area to avoid New Year's Eve gatherings.

The new Corona virus has caused the death of one million 731 thousand and 936 people in the world since the WHO office in China reported the emergence of the disease at the end of December 2019, according to a census conducted by Agence France-Presse based on official sources yesterday.

More than 78 million and 678 thousand and 240 people have been infected with the virus in the world, of whom 49 million and 787 thousand and 800 people have recovered, at least until today.

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