New: All EU countries ban UK travellers for 48 hours amid mutant strain scare
The EU has followed many of its countries in enforcing a BAN on all British travellers to the Continent and Ireland until midnight tomorrow.
A unilateral French decision has caused chaos at the port of Dover today but other countries soon joined.
Spain made the call to close its borders to the UK, with the exception of Spanish nationals and residents, this afternoon.
Controls at the border of Gibraltar – where there is already one case of the more infectious Covid strain – will be stepped up.
The move follows numerous countries around the world closing the borders with the UK after the emergence of a mutant strain of Covid-19 in Britain.
The closure at the French border will cause chaos at Britain’s ports, including Dover, and raises the prospect of truck-borne goods being held up at the border alongside their drivers for a full two days.
Only unaccompanied freight will be permitted to cross the Channel.
Read more: Dutch and Belgians shut border to the UK
The French Government’s decision will come into force from midnight tonight.
“Given the new health risk,” the French PM Jean Castex tweeted, “and pending its assessment, all flows of people from the United Kingdom to France are suspended from midnight tonight.”
Castex said the two day ban would allow “our European partners to achieve a common response” and give the French government time to work on a “suitable solution” for French citizens in the UK.