An agreement has been reached with the French government over the UK border and France will start letting traffic from Britain back if drivers show a recent negative Covid-19 test.
Some of the lorries in the queue at the port of Dover. Photo: AFP
UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps promised more details on hauliers later, but urged them not to go to Kent where about 2850 lorries are stranded.
Meanwhile, French authorities said some journeys would resume on Wednesday.
Residents and nationals will be among those allowed to return if they have a recent negative test.
Shapps tweeted: "Good progress today and agreement with the French Government on borders. We will provide an update on hauliers later this evening, but hauliers must still NOT travel to Kent this evening."
Truck drivers face the prospect of a third night sleeping in their cabs outside Dover on the M20 motorway, which has been shut since Sunday night. More than 3000 trucks are stuck in Kent in south-east England.
French authorities said planes, boats and Eurostar trains would resume services on Wednesday morning.
This is available to French nationals, EU citizens and people with residency in France.
Travel will also be available to people carrying out essential trips, including health staff fighting against Covid-19, those who provide international transport of goods, fishing crew and bus or train drivers.
But in order to travel, they will need to have received a negative PCR test result less than 72 hours before departure.
"French nationals, people living in France and those with a legitimate reason will have to be carrying a negative test," French transport minister Jean-Baptiste Djebarri said.
The PCR (polymerase chain reaction) Covid test is regarded as the "gold standard" by epidemiologists, but takes up to a day or longer to produce a result because the sample has to be sent off to a laboratory.
The BBC understands that hauliers will be able to provide a negative result from the faster type of test, known as a lateral flow test, before travelling to France.
EU Commission urges travel bans to be dropped
The announcement by French authorities comes after the EU Commission urged member states to drop their travel bans to avoid supply chain disruption.
More than 50 countries have banned UK arrivals following widespread concern about the spread of the new variant.
No lorries have been leaving the Port of Dover or Eurotunnel to France.
European Union ambassadors are meeting to try to co-ordinate their policies on links to the UK, after dozens of countries suspended travel amid alarm over a new coronavirus variant.
A traveller at a nearly deserted Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport. Photo: AFP
They will consider a recommendation from the European Commission to lift restrictions.
But EU member states are free to set their own rules on border controls and may continue with their own policies.
The new variant appears to be more transmissible, but there is no sign it is more deadly.
Britain has reported a record number of new cases of Covid-19 in a single day as it battles a surge in infection caused by the variant strain of the disease.
Official figures show there were 36,804 new cases and another 691 deaths within 28 days of a positive test - both figures up markedly from a day before.
The figures were released as almost all the EU's 27 member states began blocking travellers from the UK.
The EU's executive branch, the European Commission, recommended its members allow people to travel to their country of residence providing they take a Covid-19 test or self-isolate. But it said non-essential travel should be discouraged.
Travellers look at the departures board at Terminal 5 of Heathrow Airport in west London. Photo: AFP
It also said transport staff, such as lorry drivers, should be exempt from all travel restrictions and mandatory testing.
As the list of countries imposing travel restrictions on the UK grew, the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Europe director, Hans Kluge, said member states would convene to discuss strategies and limit travel, while maintaining trade.
WHO emergencies chief Mike Ryan said new strains were a normal part of the evolution of a pandemic, and that it was not "out of control", contradicting earlier remarks in the UK from Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
The co-founder of BioNTech, producer with Pfizer of the vaccine now being used in the UK, also voiced optimism. "Scientifically, it is highly likely that the immune response by this vaccine also can deal with the new virus variant," Ugur Sahin said. He added that, if needed, a mutation-beating vaccine could be provided within six weeks.
What is happening in the rest of the world?
Many other countries, from India, to Iran, to Canada have suspended flights from the UK.
The US already has restrictions in place that prevent most non-US citizens who have been in the UK and some other countries for the last 14 days from entering. It is yet to follow suit with a ban on all travellers from the UK, but two airlines - British Airways and Delta - will only allow passengers who test negative for the coronavirus to fly to New York's John F Kennedy airport.
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman have shut their borders completely to international passengers.
Along with Denmark, the new strain has also been detected in Australia, Italy and the Netherlands.
Some experts believe the new strain has already spread beyond where it has been reported, crediting the UK's use of genomic surveillance for detecting it.
"I think we will find in the coming days that a lot of other countries will find it," Marc Van Ranst, a virologist from the Rega Institute for Medical Research in Belgium, told broadcaster VRT.
In another development, travellers from South Africa are also facing bars from some countries after another new variant of the virus was discovered that is unrelated to the one found in the UK.
- BBC