BORDERS: Travellers will need to present a negative coronavirus Covid-19 test less than 72 hours before their departure across the Channel
To block the road to the mutation of the Covid-19, travellers will have to present a negative test of fewer than 72 hours to cross the British border and return to French territory, the Prime Minister’s Office announced on Tuesday. consultation with the Member States of the European Union. A measure subject to conditions that will apply until January 6th.
Are concerned: French and European nationals, as well as “British nationals or third-country nationals who either usually reside in France, in the European Union or in the European Area or must make essential trips”, indicates the communicated.
Tests “sensitive” to the mutation of the virus
This test must be presented to the airline, maritime or rail company, as well as to customs. Matignon confirms that PCR and antigenic tests will be accepted, as long as they are “sensitive to the VUI-2020-12-01 variant”, named after the virus mutation. Regarding road traffic, the modalities will be specified in the coming hours.
Since midnight Sunday, France, like many European countries including Germany and the Netherlands, had suspended the movement of people and goods from the United Kingdom for 48 hours. The European Commission had recommended that EU member states facilitate the resumption of trafficking with the United Kingdom, whose isolation, linked to the discovery on its territory of a variant of the coronavirus, sowed chaos in its relations with the continent.
“This period allowed for consultation between the European Commission and the Member States based on the analysis of the health risk published on December 20 by the European Center for the Prevention and Control of Diseases (ECDC), as well as constructive bilateral exchanges between the French and British governments ”, explained the services of the head of the French government.
