LONDON (AP) — Around 1,000 British soldiers were spending Christmas Day trying to clear a huge backlog of truck drivers stuck in southeast England after France briefly closed its border to the U.K., then demanded coronavirus tests from all amid fears of a new, apparently more contagious, virus variant. The military personnel were directing traffic and helping a mass testing program for the drivers, who must test negative to enter France. French firefighters have also been drafted to help the military test drivers for coronavirus. Poland's Territorial Defense Force also sent reinforcements to help with testing and food distribution. British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said he had instructed the army to take control of testing as part of efforts to get “foreign hauliers home with their families as quickly as we can.”

Source: Daily Sun December 25, 2020 12:11 UTC