Europe moves to isolate UK as virus ruins Christmas

Bloomberg

The UK plunged into Christmas chaos with police blocking people from boarding packed trains, holidays abroad scrapped and travel with Europe banned after London went into an emergency lockdown.
France has suspended inbound travel from the UK for 48 hours and Germany halted arriving flights from Britain, which is in the middle of delicate Brexit negotiations with its European Union partners. Those talks are still at a critical stage after the weekend.
In a sudden turnaround, Prime Minister Boris Johnson cancelled plans to allow families to see each other over the festive period as the government warned that a new strain of the coronavirus is “out of control.” There were scenes of panic at train stations, with people defying social-distancing rules to get out of the capital before the new rules took effect.
Ireland banned flights with the British mainland at least until Tuesday. Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium halted air, train or ferry links earlier.
France’s Emmanuel Macron, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, European Council President Charles Michel and EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen discussed the health situation in the UK as well as Brexit.
For the UK, it’s a double body blow, leaving the country potentially isolated with the pandemic still wreaking havoc. Its departure from the EU has been punctuated by a souring relationship with its neighbours, while this latest twist has its once-close partners putting up the shutters.
It will also unleash more damage to struggling European airlines. The country was the busiest in the region on Saturday with more than 2,200 flights, according to Eurocontrol.
More than 16 million Britons are now required to stay at home after new restrictions came into force in London and southeast England. The measures ban household mixing in the capital and the southeast, and restrict socialising to just Christmas Day across the rest of England.
For many Britons trying to see relatives or go on a winter vacation, the restrictions are a reminder of the last nationwide lockdown and will add to the burden of contending with a virus that is still dangerous, even with vaccines being rolled out into the population.
This is the latest U-turn from a government that has been reluctant to impose limits to movement, unless forced.
Until Friday, Johnson was adamant that close households would be able to mix over Christmas. There is some unease among his Conservative rank-and-file lawmakers.