A slew of countries closed their borders to Britain today over fears of a highly infectious new coronavirus strain, heightening global panic, causing travel chaos and raising the prospect of UK food shortages days before the Brexit cliff edge.
India, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Russia, Jordan and Hong Kong suspended travel for Britons after Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that a mutated variant of the virus, up to 70%more transmissible, had been identified in the country. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman closed their borders completely.
A 48-hour ban on flights to Ireland from Britain came into effect from midnight, while ferries will be limited to freight travel, as part of measures aimed at reducing the spread of the new strain of Covid-19.
Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan said ferries will continue to operate for freight between Britain and Ireland.
"We need haulage coming in to keep our shelves full but other passengers will be restricted," he said.
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Several other nations have suspended travel from Britain including France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Israel and Canada - although scientists said the strain may already be circulating in countries with less advanced detection methods than the United Kingdom.
The discovery of the new strain, just months before vaccines are expected to be widely available, sowed fresh panic in a pandemic that has killed about 1.7 million people worldwide and more than 67,000 in Britain.
Australia said two people who travelled from the United Kingdom to New South Wales state were found to be carrying the mutated virus.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo urged the US government to take steps to prevent the new strain entering the country, which has been worst hit by Covid-19 with almost 318,000 deaths.
"It's high time the federal government takes swift action, because today that variant is getting on a plane and landing in JFK, and all it takes is one person," he said.
US Assistant Health Secretary Brett Giroir said nothing had yet been decided on any travel ban.
In Britain, Mr Johnson will chair an emergency response meeting to discuss international travel, in particular the flow of freight in and out of Britain. EU officials held a meeting on coordinating their response earlier today.
France shut its border to arrivals of people and trucks from Britain, closing off one of the most important trade arteries with mainland Europe.
As families and truck drivers tried to navigate the travel bans to get back home in time for Christmas, British supermarket chain Sainsbury's said shortages would start to appear within days if transport ties were not quickly restored.
"If nothing changes, we will start to see gaps over the coming days on lettuce, some salad leaves, cauliflowers, broccoli and citrus fruit - all of which are imported from the continent at this time of year," Sainsbury's said.
France's FNTR national road haulage federation said: "No driver wants to deliver to the UK now, so the UK is going to see its freight supply dry up."
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The new variant and restrictions in Britain compound the chaos as the country prepares to part ways with the EU, possibly without a trade deal, when the Brexit transition period ends on 31 December.
Talks on a Brexit trade deal were due to continue today.
The new variant, which scientists said was 40%-70% more transmissible, is rapidly become the dominant strain in parts of southern England, including London.
Experts stressed, though, that there was no evidence that vaccines, including the one made by Pfizer and BioNtech being deployed in Britain, would not protect against this variant.
Cases of the new strain have also been in detected in some other countries, including Italy and the Netherlands. Some scientists said the prevalence discovered in Britain might be down to detection.
"Britain is simply the country which finds these mutations the most because they are looking for them more. There are countries that hardly search or do not search at all," Marc Van Ranst, a virologist from the Rega Institute for Medical Research in Belgium, told Belgian broadcaster VRT.
"I think we will find in the coming days that a lot of other countries will find it."
