French authorities will strictly limit who can travel from Brazil, Argentina, Chile and South Africa to France, and those who do, will impose a ten-day quarantine in the hope of overcoming the worrying coronavirus variants that spread in those countries. again, the government announced on Saturday.
The announcement contributes to a shifting patchwork of international constraints that has made travel around the world difficult.
Prime Minister Jean Castex announced late Saturday that travelers arriving from one of the four countries should be quarantined for ten days from April 24. Police officers will investigate them to ensure they comply.
Access from the four countries will be almost exclusively restricted to French citizens and their families, citizens of other European Union countries and foreigners with permanent residences in France. Travelers should have tested negative for the virus within a short time before take-off and will receive antigenic tests upon arrival.
“These are the countries that are most dangerous,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told France 3 on Sunday.
Almost all flights between France and Brazil will at least remain suspended until the new rules come into force and possibly longer, the government said.
The tightening restrictions were necessary due to the ‘uncontrolled spread of the virus in certain countries’, including the widespread spread of virus variants such as those first identified in Brazil and South Africa, which are more resistant to some current Covid-19 vaccines, Mr. Castex said in its statement.
France’s decision contributes to a complex tangle of rules and policies on international travel that can vary greatly from country to country and month to month.
Germany got rid of its travel restrictions last week and removed Britain, Ireland, Finland and Barbados from its list of danger zones.
But Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said his country was “not in a hurry” to reopen its borders, which were largely closed to anyone other than returning Australian citizens.
“I will not endanger the way we live in this country, which is so different from the rest of the world,” he said. Morrison told reporters Sunday.
Unlike the many European countries that keep restaurants closed, travel restricted and face masks mandatory to combat a new wave of infections, the coronavirus epidemic in Australia is largely under control, and residents can mostly travel and eat domestically.