After blocking freight traffic from Britain in an attempt to stop the spread of a possibly more contagious variant of the coronavirus, France reopened its border on Wednesday to truck transport.
The action was contingent on virus testing, and the British Army was dispatched Wednesday morning to help in the laborious process administering tests to scores of truck drivers who were left stranded outside British ports when the borders closed.
But in the early morning hours, with traffic largely at a standstill, there was more frustration and confusion for the hundreds of drivers who have spent days sleeping in their rigs, with no way of knowing whether they would make it home for Christmas. As tensions boiled over police officers and angry drivers faced off, and news networks captured scenes of pushing and shoving as desperation for movement deepened. The police in Kent, where Dover is located, said at least one arrest had been made.
There was concern that the early morning chaos could be a prelude for the logistical nightmare to come, with the Road Haulage Association warning that even “a short delay in the process is going to mean huge delays in the supply chain.”
Under the agreement with France, rapid tests with “lateral flow devices” will be administered by workers from the National Health Service with the military providing logistical assistance.
The tests, which were developed by Public Health England and the University of Oxford, are a relatively new weapon in the fight against the virus.
They can detect the new variant and give a result in about 30 minutes, according to Public Health England.
Freight drivers will receive their test result by a text message, which then gives them the right to cross the Channel. Anyone who tests positive will have to take another test, but isolation protocols were still being worked out.
Testing will also take place on the French side for hauliers entering Britain.
France also agreed to allow select groups of people to travel from Britain to France if they could produce proof of a recent negative coronavirus test. They included noncitizens with a permanent residence in the European Union and people whose travel is deemed essential. Among them are diplomats, health workers helping in France’s fight against the virus, and the drivers and crew members of passenger planes, trains and buses.
The late-night deal came as a relief to merchants across Britain, who were increasingly concerned that the impasse could lead to shortages of essential goods, especially perishable items like fruit and vegetables.
But more than 50 other governments are continuing to block travelers from Britain in an effort to stop the spread of the new variant, according to a tally kept by the BBC.
The health authorities in Hong Kong, which has closed its borders to Britain, said on Wednesday that two students who returned from London this month appeared to have been infected by the virus variant. Starting Thursday, anyone who recently entered Hong Kong from Britain will be required to quarantine for three weeks at designated hotels.
And in India, which has banned all flights from Britain until Dec. 31, some airports were in disarray on Wednesday as the authorities struggled to implement new quarantine guidelines aimed at the variant spreading in Britain.
At Mumbai’s main airport, which has catered to half a million international passengers since May, passengers were seen impatiently waiting on Tuesday to get tested. Outside, police officers beat some anxious relatives waiting for arriving passengers.
Passengers on flights that left Britain before the ban took effect at midnight were allowed to enter India, so long as they took a P.C.R. test on arrival and agreed to quarantine. So far, three flights carrying nearly total 600 passengers have arrived at the Mumbai airport, and more planes are en route.
“It was like a nightmare,” said Anusia Mathur, who arrived on Tuesday from Amsterdam. She said she wanted to travel by road to her hometown but was instead told to move to a hotel for quarantine.
