LONDON – Great Britain is now a little more an island: neighboring France has erected its bridges.
Faced with the new wave of Omicron, it closed borders to tourists from Great Britain. Only the French returning home from Saturday and the English living in France will be able to travel.
It is an announcement that disrupts the plans of thousands of people ready to go for White Week or the culture of big cities across the channel and which highlights how, despite hopes and forecasts, it is also a ” There will be no “normal” Christmas.
In restaurants, in cinemas, in cinemas across the United Kingdom, cancellations are falling: Queen Elizabeth will skip a pre-Christmas breakfast. “It’s too risky to uncover the prospect of so many people getting sick around Christmas,” a spokesperson said.
Every day in the UK brings new firsts. Yesterday, 78,610 new cases of covid, the highest since the start of the pandemic. Confirmed Omicron variant positives are 10,000, but true cases would be at least twice that. Understandable, therefore, is the decision of France, where the transmission of the new version is currently limited (about 250 cases).
Yesterday, in a press conference, Prime Minister Boris Johnson assured the country that it would not be necessary to cancel Christmas. During the same meeting, Chris Whitty, the head of public health for England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales and one of the most authoritative voices in the pandemic, encouraged citizens to use common sense, which is essential to the safety of the ceremony. was not. And the family reunion they absolutely didn’t want to miss.
The country seems to have considered Whitty more than premier if the hospitality sector anticipates bookings and very heavy losses in free fall today. Meanwhile, the day is complicated for Johnson on a political level as well. Voting is underway in North Shropshire following the resignation of MP Owen Paterson due to a conflict of interest. The outcome of a college that has always and only voted Tory will be a judgment on the credibility and credibility of the premiership.
(Corrire della Sera)