Nonessential business trips are also banned under the new restrictions, Mr. Castex said, but he added that the new rules would not apply to French citizens living in Britain who wish to return to France.
Those who do leave Britain for France will face stricter testing requirements, even if they are vaccinated. All travelers will have to present a negative virus test taken within 24 hours of departure, down from 48 hours. (The 24-hour rule already existed for unvaccinated travelers.)
All travelers arriving from Britain will also have to register online and isolate for up to 10 days. However, they can take a test 48 hours after arrival, and if that comes back negative, they can end their isolation period.
France is already facing a surge in cases attributed to the Delta variant, pressuring a hospital system that is short-staffed and under strain after nearly two years of battling the virus. Nearly 3,000 Covid-19 patients are in intensive care, the highest level since June, and the authorities expect that number to rise to 4,000 by the end of the year.
Gabriel Attal, a French government spokesman, told the BFMTV news channel on Thursday that the goal of the new travel restrictions was to “slow down and reduce as much as possible the arrival of cases of the Omicron variant on our soil.”
Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/16/world/europe/france-uk-travel-restrictions-omicron.html
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