United Kingdom: New strain of Covid-19 causes fear of shortages
A woman does her shopping in a London supermarket whose shelves are half empty.
December 21, 2020. REUTERS - HANNAH MCKAY
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
Great Britain is more than ever an island in Europe.
His neighbors have almost all closed their borders to him because of his health situation and the new strain of Covid-19 that has been discovered there.
For more than 24 hours, no freight truck has arrived in its ports and concern is growing about the risk of shortages if maritime links are not quickly restored.
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With our correspondent in London,
Maxence Peigné
Normally, the Port of Dover is the main gateway to the UK for freight trucks.
Just last week, 10,000 were arriving per day from France.
But since Sunday, December 20, its activities have stopped and the situation can quickly worsen according to Helen Dickinson, patron of the national federation of traders.
"
If the disruptions continue, we could have shortages of fresh produce as early as next week - so it is going to be crucial to resolve these issues within 48 hours
."
For some Britons in front of London supermarkets, the fear is to find empty shelves by Christmas.
“
It's ridiculous people who reserve for restrictions, it's a vicious cycle.
I couldn't even find any milk,
”a woman laments.
Peter Alexander is a food safety expert at the University of Edinburgh.
He analyzes: "
This situation is almost a repeat of Brexit - but if companies lose some of their inventory or can no longer do more, then they will be less prepared for the coming shock
."
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