Prime Minister Jean Castex made it official on 29 JanuaryFollowing a meeting of the Restricted Defence and National Security Council on COVID-19, new restrictions on entry to France were introduced at midnight on Sunday evening. Except for compelling reasons, in particular professional emergencyit is now prohibited from entering France from outside the EU zone. Until now, a negative PCR test and a one-week isolation period allowed travel beyond the EU zone.
It should be noted that the UK is affected by this ban. " Travellers from the United Kingdom are now subject to the compelling reasons regime (the indicative list of compelling reasons appears on travel certificates), whether they are French nationals, nationals of a member country of the European area (European Union, Andorra, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norway, San Marino, Switzerland and the Vatican), British nationals or nationals of any other country. "says the Consulate General of France in London.
In addition, the intra-European travel are also subject to tighter controls: France now requires a PCR test on arrival from another EU Member State. However, border workers and lorry drivers are excluded from this new measure. " All entry into France from a European Union country will be subject to a PCR test, with the exception of cross-border workers. All travel to and from all our sites will be subject to a PCR test. overseas territories will also be subject to the production of overriding reasons "declared the Prime Minister, brandishing the threat of reconfinement: " Our duty is to do everything we can to avoid another lockdown, and the next few days will be crucial. ".
In doing so, France is joining a number of European countries where new restrictions have been introduced in recent days. L'Germany has targeted five countries particularly affected by the Covid-19 variant. For at least two weeks, arrivals from the UK, Ireland, Portugal, South Africa and Brazil will be blocked. A compulsory 5-day quarantine has also been imposed.
In addition, the Czech Republic has banned all foreign nationals from entering its territory since the weekend, with a few rare exceptions. This is already the case for Belgiumthe Denmark or the Finland. L'Spain requires EU citizens to undergo a PCR test before entering its territory. Portugal, for its part, is advising its citizens not to travel and is carrying out checks at its land border with Spain. And the list goes on...
The airlines will be responsible for check for compelling reasons or the results of the PCR. According to Clément Beaune, Minister for European Relations, the border police will once again check the validity of exemptions and tests for entry into France.
Several airlines that have not complied with the measures taken in France are under fire. The Ministry of Transport summoned them on Monday 1 February, according to Clément Beaune in an interview with France Info. The first to be banned from flying is : Ethiopian Airlines which allegedly accepted passengers with false negative PCR tests. The company suspended its flights for 4 days but has since resumed them.
