Last checked at 
(Adds experts examining how vaccines work on new strain,
unconfirmed evidence it could transmit as easily among children)
* Nations ban travel from UK over infectious new strain
* UK supermarket Sainsbury's warns of some food shortages
* Sterling, stocks and bond yields tumble
* Chaos comes as Britain due to exit EU's orbit on Dec. 31
* EU regulator approves use of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine
* U.S. Congress poised to vote on $900 billion stimulus
By Gerhard Mey and Ben Makori
DOVER, England, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Several countries closed
their borders to Britain on Monday over fears of a highly
infectious new coronavirus strain, causing travel chaos and
raising the prospect of food shortages just days before the UK
is set to leave the European Union.
India, Pakistan, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Russia,
Jordan and Hong Kong suspended travel for Britons after Prime
Minister Boris Johnson warned 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.
Several other nations blocked travel from Britain over the
weekend, including France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands,
Austria, Ireland, Belgium and Canada - although experts 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.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo urged the U.S. government to
take steps to prevent the variant 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.
U.S. Assistant Health Secretary Brett Giroir said nothing
had yet been decided on any travel ban. As the pandemic
accelerates there, Congress was poised to vote on a $900 billion
COVID-19 stimulus package, after months of inaction.
EU officials met via video link to coordinate their response
to the new strain of the coronavirus. The bloc is on course to
start COVID-19 vaccinations within a week after its medicines
regulator approved the use of a shot from Pfizer and
BioNTech on Monday.
Experts said there was no evidence that vaccines would not
protect against this variant, but added they were working around
the clock to determine whether the mutations would affect how
well the shots guarded against infection.
"Since the three vaccine forerunners target the spike
protein, how the variant responds to the vaccines and the
protection that the vaccine will offer does still need to be
examined in detail," said Saad Shakir, a professor and director
at Britain's drug safety research unit.
FOOD SHORTAGES WARNING
France shut its border to arrivals of people and trucks from
Britain, closing off one of the most important trade arteries
with mainland Europe.
"No driver wants to deliver to the UK now, so the UK is
going to see its freight supply dry up," France's FNTR national
road-haulage federation said.
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.
The global alarm was reflected in financial markets.
European shares slumped, with travel and leisure stocks
bearing the brunt; British Airways-owner IAG and
easyJet dropped about 7%, while Air France KLM
lost around 3%.
Wall Street also felt the pain, with losses across the
board. The S&P 1500 airlines index slid 3%, while
leading cruise operators fell about 4%.
The British pound tumbled 2.5% against the dollar at one
point before paring some of the losses, while the yield on
two-year UK government bonds hit a record low.
'SICK MAN OF EUROPE'
Johnson cancelled Christmas plans for millions of British
people on Saturday due to the more infectious strain of the
coronavirus, though he said there was no evidence that it was
either more lethal or caused a more severe illness.
Britain's tabloids bemoaned the crisis.
"Sick Man of Europe", the Daily Mirror newspaper said on its
front page beside a picture of Johnson, while the Sun newspaper
said "French show no merci".
The new variant and restrictions in Britain compound the
chaos as the country prepares to finally part ways with the
European Union, possibly without a trade deal, when the Brexit
transition period at 2300 GMT on Dec. 31.
Talks on a Brexit trade deal were due to continue on Monday.
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 tracking the new strain said there was some early
but unconfirmed evidence that it could transmit as readily among
children as among adults, unlike previous dominant strains that
appeared to be more easily able to infect adults.
'2020 NOT DONE WITH US'
Cases of the new strain have also been in detected in some
other countries, including Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands.
Australia said two people who travelled from the United
Kingdom to New South Wales, its most populous state, were
carrying the mutated virus. It axed dozens of domestic flights
while New South Wales locked down more than 250,000 people.
"2020 is not done with us yet," Prime Minister Scott
Morrison said.
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 broadcaster VRT.
"I think we will find in the coming days that a lot of other
countries will find it."
(Additional reporting by Kate Kelland, Toby Melville and James
Davey in London, Laurence Frost in Paris, Philip Blenkinsop in
Brussels, Sayantani Ghosh in Singapore, Frank McGurty in New
York, Josh Smith and Sangmi Cha in Seoul, Renju Jose in Sydney,
Shilpa Jamkhandikar in Mumbai and Farah Master in Hong Kong;
Writing by Guy Faulconbridge and Pravin Char; Editing by Alison
Williams and Mike Collett-White)
