The transport crisis at dover in the south east of england is getting worse. Nearly 3,000 lorries are now backed up, and theres still no agreement between the uk and france on reopening the border. The initial 48 hour ban on transport from the uk to france lifts at midnight, but we dont know what will happen then. Any solution is likely to include mass testing for lorry drivers, but theres no agreement yet on what type of tests to use. Sangita myska is in dover. Can you hear that noise behind me . There are all of the lorries gridlocked behind me into dover port beeping their horns, shouting. I think ultimately, theyre just set up. This is a bunch of incredibly frustrated lorry drivers. Theyve now been here for well over two days. They want to be let in. There is no sign that any deal appears to be coming. What theyve been telling me is for this entire time, theyve not been given access to toilets, they do not have access to water. Remember, we are in a pandemic. Were all being told wash your hands, keep clean. They cannot do that. The very reason the french wont allow these lorry drivers is theyre worried theyre carrying the muted variant of covid i9. Even if things can start moving, there are questions about how quickly this could clear. John keefe, the director of the eurotunnel, told the bbc. Which keeps things moving but doesnt clear the problem as quickly. Next, this is a representative of the road Haulage Association. 0ne one of the logical things about all this is drivers are lone workers. They are in a cab on their own. They sleep on their own, they eat their food on their own. So, theyre not incredible investors of disease. The french decision looks over the top at the best of times incredible vectors. These pictures are from earlier today miles of parked lorries on the m20 motorway. There are also hundreds of lorries in this truck park. Others have just had to stop wherever they can. Many drivers have been sleeping in their cabs while they wait, and the Haulage Association says theyve been offered one cereal bar each. Lets look at the significance of dover. This map, based on 2018 figures, shows you the annual lorry traffic and share of eu trade of all the major ports in the uk. I cant show you the map at the moment. Dover is by far the largest more than two million lorries pass its port and at least 75 of its trade is with the eu, much more than any other port in britain. In other words, dover is crucial for trade between the uk and eu, and with trucks stuck, many perishable goods are going to waste. There are particular concerns from some about seafood from a business point of view, and just for peoples christmas plans. Annie bennett is a travel writer in spain. French Industry Leaders are worried, too. Heres gavin lee in brussels. Ahead of supermarkets, one of the big chains leaders said theyve got trucks stuck on the uk side of the border with all sorts of fish and seasonal seafood produce. Scallops, language there will be shortages to tomorrow. He is saying desperately, the borders need to be reopened. So, thats the situation on the continent. Here in uk, there are also produce concerns. The supermarket tesco has reintroduced caps on certain items including eggs, rice, soap and handwash, and there are warnings from retailers than certain other products may come under pressure because of the Border Closure and because of panic buying. Charlotte wright reports. With just days to go until christmas, staff are working flat out to keep our supermarkets shelves stocked. This morning, retailers and suppliers have issued a message of reassurance. Despite frances ban on freight crossing the channel, there will be no shortages of supply for christmas day. We have pre empted a lot of this because of the brexit situation, so we started bringing produce in a lot earlier as well. So, we were having products just to cover ourselves for the start of the new year, but a lot of the stuff now is being brought in through other ports, through rotterdam, so missing out on dover and calais and going round about and coming a different way into the different markets. But behind the scenes, there are concerns that disruption at dover could mean challenges for our fresh food stocks come the new year. With fears that continental truckers may not want to travel here for fear of being marooned. This salad Processing Plant in preston handles produce from spain and italy. We are bringing in each week about a0 trucks so, if you imagine a two day hold up, thats going to come out of those trucks, and it takes quite a few days to build that gap back up. To build that gap back up. Because all of this produce has a very short shelf life. So, the maximum, once thats here, we can hold it for a couple of days, then we put a seven day shelf life on it, so it is a very short time, so any hold up, impinges on the end life of the product. And of course it is not just affecting imports. Businesses who export their goods from the uk are already noticing the impact. The food thats going out of the country in the direction of mainland europe is, as you say, sitting there and going off. And particularly for sectors like fresh seafood, langoustines, salmon and so on, they have a very finite shelf life, and they will be in big trouble if they are not able to move today at the latest. The government says the uk has a highly resilient food supply chain. Supermarkets are well prepared, and the industry has been clear that there is enough stock. Charlotte wright, bbc news. Now to the wider issue of travel bans. Many European Countries have them in place, but the European Commission is recommending that countries lift those restrictions and allow essential travel to resume. European Union Ambassadors are meeting to discuss the recommendations, and we are expecting something from them later. Meanwhile, the uk transport secretary grant shapps has tweeted in the last hour. While france is yet to release any details on freight traffic, it has said that from midnight tonight, french nationals and citizen from the eu will be able to return to france with a negative test done less than 72 hours before departure. This week, almost all of europe banned flights from the uk in reaction to the new variant of covid. Greece and cyprus are the only two eu countries without a ban in place. Now, as well as suggesting the bans are lifted, the European Commission is also recommending that nonessential travel to and from the uk should be discouraged until further notice, and that people travelling for essential reasons for instance, medical staff should be required to undergo a test within 72 hours prior to departure. It also wants freight to continue uninterrupted, not least to ensure the distribution of covid i9 vaccines. Its also important to note that while this advice is being offered, eu Member States are free to set their own rules on border controls, so they can go their own way if they chose. Kevin connolly is live from brussels. Just help us understand this tension between what Member States can decide on their own and what the European Commission recommends. Always tension. Its up to Member States to decide who comes in and leaves their territory. They remain sovereign states, but the eu institutions try to put a in architecture across that. The European Commission is saying after a couple days of emergency measures, there is now no real reason why all planes and trains should be banned from entering the uk. While nonessential travel is strongly not recommended, of course, people can begin to make journeys recommended, of course, people can begin to makejourneys home, for example, back to the country they live in, back to their home country for the holiday season. Now, our country like france can require a test for citizens before it allows that, and that is where we are with the negotiations between france and britain. The European Commission has made its view clear that some movement should again now be possible, but quite limited and with safeguards. France is now deciding precise levels of safeguard. It said what it wants, that pcr test. It hasnt yet said what it will want from Truck Drivers. Bearing in mind the decision, have we had any indication as to whether they will shift their position on the travel bands because of the European Commission advice . I think you have to look at the relationship between the commission and states. The commission will have taken scientific advice, it will have looked at the Overall Economic impact on the european union. It will feel its acting in the Member States interest. Its very unlikely that Member States as a whole would go against the commissions advice. France will feel it is in the absolute epicentre. Its the link between dover and calais which is crucial. That is under french control. Although many of those drivers are heading back to bulgaria, lithuania, romania, they have to go from france. France is going to take the view that is owned Public Health requirement will come first. Thats why we have a solution between britain and france on british residents of france going home, for example. But a more difficult decision on the road haulage, on what exactly is going to be required from Truck Drivers. That has not been announced and thats because of that very big difference. A pcr test means a sample has to be sent to a laboratory which could ta ke 48 sent to a laboratory which could take 48 hours. That is a mentally impracticalfor truck take 48 hours. That is a mentally impractical for Truck Drivers immensely impractical. Waiting to hear how they can go home. The british side wants much, much simpler lateral flow testing. That can be done immediately, result in 15, 20 minutes, but its less accurate. So you can see the nature of the debate between britain and france, you can see why this is been so difficult. Just before i let you 90, so difficult. Just before i let you go, just to reemphasize what you said, they would approach the issue of freight almost as if a convincing plea completely separate issue. Of freight almost as if a convincing plea completely separate issuelj think plea completely separate issue. think thats right. There is an a cce pta nce think thats right. There is an acceptance that the holiday season, usually high advertise for people to get back to their home countries. But theres also a political and cultural acceptance that people have a right to return to their own countries. If you remember, there was a problem earlier in the pandemic, a sort of overarching right to return home. The french are trying to balance that overarching rife of return, if you like, against the Public Health risk of allowing people in from a higher risk area. This is the answer they come up with so far. Its why its easier to sort out your own citizens than it is perhaps for Truck Drivers. Kevin, thank you very much indeed. Theres are now more than 50 countries across the world with bans in place. In africa and the middle east, sudan and tunisia have now issued full flight bans. In asia, singapore and pakistan have joined india and hong kong. In south and central america, argentina and columbia are among those that took swift action, as have canada, grenada and jamaica. So far, the us has not, though three airlines that operate flights from london to new yorks jfk airport have voluntarily agreed to a request from Governor Andrew Cuomo that they only let passengers who test negative to fly. Well, on that subject and whether a full ban on flights from the uk to the us is necessary, heres the man advising the government on the us response to coronavirus, Dr Anthony Fauci speaking to the bbc. At this point, i am not recommending that. Im not sure exactly what the policy would be. I think that might bea policy would be. I think that might be a bit of an overreaction on our part. However, icertainly be a bit of an overreaction on our part. However, i certainly respect the other countries on their decision. I think we should seriously consider the possibility of requiring preflight testing before people leave from the uk to the United States. Thats something thats on the table that i believe it needs to be seriously considered rather than an outright ban on all travel from the uk to the United States. So, around the world, plans are being cancelled and some countries have gone even further than a travel ban. For example, switzerland has asked anyone who entered from the uk after december 14 to quarantine for ten days. Thousands of tourists from Great Britain are presumed to be in switzerland for skiing holidays. Now they will be stuck in their hotels or will be heading home. Heres one of them. Yes, we fly home, because this kind is no point to being here. We have to be inside, its a shame not to be able to go out really and go skiing, thats the reason people come, if they cant do that, its a kind of no point being here, you might as well go home. Lets take a look at the latest numbers in the uk. A further 36,000 people tested positive for coronavirus in the last 24 hours. Thats a record since the pandemic began, though Testing Capacity has increased rapidly since the initial spring outbreak. 691 more deaths have been recorded, more than double the number reported on monday. A lot of these infections are from this new variant of the virus, and leading Scientists Say they have high confidence that its easier to transmit than other variants. The uks chief scientific adviser is warning the new variant is now everywhere, and says more areas may need to enter tier 4, which is the toughest set of restrictions. Sir Patrick Vallance says lockdown measures need to be increased in some places, in due course, not reduced. Lets hearfrom one member of the independent group of scientists advising the government. I actually think the whole country needs to be in tier 4 because we needs to be in tier 4 because we need to get ahead of it. Right now, were behind it. Cost of admissions are shooting up in the south and not yet in the north, and we just dont wa nt to yet in the north, and we just dont want to see it happen everywhere. And if we shut down now, it should stop that new variant becoming dominant. Thats really what we have to try to do. There are many Unanswered Questions about the characteristics of the new variant and how its managed to become the dominant strain within a matter of months. One of the key questions is whether the vaccines that have been developed will work against it. Theres no evidence that they wont and the who says its confident they will. Heres the chief executive of biontech, which developed a vaccine with pfizer. We have now a new variant and the variant which was discovered in the uk. This variant is a little bit different. We dont know at the moment if all vaccines our vaccine is able to provide protection against this new variant. Scientifically, it is highly likely that a new response by this vaccine also can deal with the new virus variant. Another big unknown is whether people can get the new variant if theyve already had covid i9. On that, this is professor lina bauld from university of edinburgh. We all need to continue following the guidance, even if weve had covid 19, because there are a number of things we dont know about immunity. The first thing is that immunity. The first thing is that immunity can be short lived, and we know that is commonly the case with other coronavirus s. We have to be very cautious there. There have been case reports of infection, thats definitely the case around the world. We dont know how common infection is. It can even occur after not a long period after the first infection, sojust important to emphasise that. I was looking at what was published over the weekend, and they make a note they dont know about reinfection but they expect more data to be available soon. So, the bottom line is even if somebodys had covid 19, it doesnt necessarily mean theyre immune and they may get it again, but also, they may get it again, but also, they may get it again, but also, they may be able to pass it on to others. And heres the bbcs science editor David Shukman on what the new variant may mean long term. What does the new variant mean for when well get out of this . One estimate from the uk says the most Vulnerable People and Health Care Workers may be immunised by the middle of next april if everything goes according to plan. 67 of the entire population by mid july. That would achieve whats called herd immunity, basically, when the virus can spread much more. But because the new variant seems to infect people more easily, it could be that 80 of the population has to be vaccinated to achieve that herd immunity, and that would take longer, maybe running into next august. Lets look at the us now. It has recorded more than 18 million cases since the start of the pandemic, more than any other country in the world. Heres what the countrys top Infectious Disease scientist, Anthony Fauci, told the bbc today. When youre dealing with a pandemic thatis when youre dealing with a pandemic that is involving the entire country, i believe it would have been better to have a more uniformity of response rather than have different states doing things in different ways. And you have surges in one part of the country, followed by surges in another part. Were a very large country. We have 330 plus Million People in the country, and i believe it would have been better if we did things in a more uniform, consistent way. When youre thinking about the implementation of Public Health practices.