UK tourists and almost all business travelers will be banned from entering France without “compelling reasons” from Saturday morning, under tough new travel restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the omicron variant.
French government spokesman Gabriel Attal said the prime minister’s office will make announcements “in the next few hours.”
He told BFM television: “We will put in place a system of controls drastically tighter than the one we have today. We will reduce the validity of the test to come to France from 48 hours to 24 hours.”
The move comes after the UK recorded on Wednesday its highest number of positive Covid-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic, with 78,610 infections.
Among measures to be imposed, France will reduce the validity of covid tests to 24 hours from 48 hours currently, Attal said. The rule will apply to all arrivals, including the fully vaccinated. People traveling to France from the UK. will also have to self-isolate for seven days. This restriction can be lifted after 48 hours on proof of a negative test.
Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron accused UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government of failing to keep its word on Brexit, saying “the problem with the British government is that it does not do what it says”.
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