COVID journey ban: Uk Sikhs feed stranded truck drivers | Coronavirus pandemic Information

Hundreds of Europe-certain vans are held up in southeastern England amid fears around a new COVID strain.

British Sikhs have sent chickpea curries and pasta meals for totally free to hundreds of France-certain truck motorists stranded in the United Kingdom, a widely praised gesture that is rooted in tradition.

Much of Europe, like France, this week banned travellers and freight from the United kingdom soon after the discovery of a new, additional transmissible variant of COVID-19 that is tearing as a result of London and the southeastern county of Kent.

On Tuesday, United kingdom officers said there were 632 trucks stacked up on the M20 motorway in Kent as component of an crisis procedure employing pieces of the motorway to queue vans travelling in direction of Europe. There had been also 2,188 at the close by Manston Airport, which is now being employed as a giant parking zone.

Responding to the disaster, in the meantime, Sikh groups rallied collectively to provide hundreds of free foods for the drivers influenced.

In Sikh tradition, the langar, or group kitchen, is presented by temples, and gives out absolutely free meals to people today irrespective of their religion or history.

Doing the job in tandem, the Sikh neighborhood at the Guru Nanak Darbar temple in Gravesend, Kent, and NGO Khalsa Support sent some 500 chickpea curries and 300 mushroom and pasta dishes late on Tuesday.

Their attempts received praise on social media, with Twitter people lauding the groups’ “kindness” and “humanity”.

“Whilst some say ‘so what, they are largely EU drivers anyway’, right Brits get out and help those in will need. Thank you to all who have appear to the assist of stranded truckers, you are the greatest of Britain,” Andy Conway Morris wrote.

Anas Sarwar, a member of the Scottish Parliament, included: “This is kindness. This is humanity. This is Britain.”

Many others thanked the Sikh volunteers for the “immeasurable kindness” shown and complimented those who participated as “kind-hearted souls”.

Khalsa Aid claimed it would resume its charitable function alongside the M20 on Wednesday.

France has committed to partially lifting the journey ban on Wednesday.

Business entire body the Highway Haulage Association had raised concerns about the drivers’ welfare, with entry to meals and h2o in significantly shorter offer for all those caught in the snaking queues on the M20, the motorway that will eventually acquire them to the port of Dover and onwards to France.