France is preparing to impose new restrictions on travelers from four countries in an effort to keep out more contagious COVID-19 variants.
The Associated Press reports that France will impose new access restrictions on those arriving from Argentina, Chile, South Africa and Brazil.
Access from the countries is restricted to French citizens and their relatives, citizens of the European Union and others with a permanent home in France. Those who do enter will be subject to a mandatory ten-day quarantine with police investigations to ensure compliance.
Travelers must also provide proof of a negative PCR test taken within 36 hours of boarding their flight, or a negative antigen test taken less than 24 hours before their flight.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Sunday that the number of countries on the list could grow.
Le Drian said on Saturday that the four countries “are the most dangerous in terms of the number of variants that exist and in the evolution of the pandemic in these countries.”
France has confirmed more than 100,000 coronavirus deaths, reports the AP, among the European countries most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The AP notes that the COVID-19 variant first identified in the UK now accounts for 80 per cent of cases in France, while the variants believed to have originated in Brazil and South Africa account for about 4 per cent. percent.
French President Emmanuel Macron
Emmanuel Jean-Michel MacronSunday shows preview: Russia, US sanctions on exchange; tensions over policing increase; vaccination campaign continues The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by tax march – Pray for Putin: tough sanctions, talk Zelensky directly to meet with France, Germany over Russia’s tensions MORE Sunday said some travel restrictions, especially for vaccinated individuals, will begin to lift in May, potentially making a tourist season possible.
“We will gradually lift the restrictions from the beginning of May, which means that during the summer we will organize with our professionals in France for French European citizens, but also for American citizens,” Macron said on CBS ‘Face the Nation. . “So we are working hard to propose a very concrete solution, especially for American citizens who are being vaccinated, so with a special pass, I would say.”