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TOURISM

EXPLAINED: These are France’s new quarantine rules for arrivals from ‘high risk’ countries

France has imposed its strictest quarantine rules yet on all arrivals from five countries that the government deems a particular risk because of the high spread of new variants of Covid.

EXPLAINED: These are France's new quarantine rules for arrivals from 'high risk' countries
Photo: Martin Bureau/AFP

The government had already announced that it would be imposing a strict 10-day quarantine on all arrivals from India, Brazil, South Africa, Chile and Argentina and on Thursday Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin gave more details of the requirements.

The requirements are also in place for anyone arriving from the French overseas département of French Guiana, which borders Brazil, the official announcement in the Journal Officiel clarified.

These rules were already in place on Thursday but will be strictly enforced from Saturday, April 24th.

They apply to all travellers aged 11 and over.

  • Anyone travelling from these 6 places must get either a PCR test 36 hours before travel OR a PCR test 72 hours before travel followed by a rapid-result antigen test 24 hours before travel
  • 10-day quarantine can be done at an address of the traveller’s choice, either at a home or a hotel (at their own cost)
  • Travellers must provide proof of their quarantine address when boarding (either proof of their home address or a hotel reservation) and airlines will be allowed to refuse boarding to people who do not have the correct proof
  • Travellers must then take another antigen test on arrival in France, and confirm to border guards that they will observe the 10-day quarantine. Quarantine address proofs will also be checked again at the border
  • Police will then check the address provided during the 10 days to ensure the quarantine is being enforced
  • Travellers will also be contacted by health authorities to remind them of the rules and offer advice. Support will be available if needed for essential errands 
  • Essential errands may be done only between 10am and 12 noon, anyone not at the address provided outside those hours will be deemed in breach of quarantine and fined
  • Fines range from €1,000 to €1,500

Travel from these countries is allowed for essential reasons only and Darmanin said these reasons would be tightened further.

“For the most part, only French and European nationals with their main residence in France will be able to enter the country,” he said. There is at present no revised list of the permitted reasons for travel.

These requirements, put in place due to fears about new variants and coupled with a ban on all flights between France and Brazil, are the strictest quarantine measures yet imposed, however there are some rules for arrivals from other countries.

Non-EU countries

All arrivals from countries outside the EU (including the UK) are asked to observe a seven-day quarantine and then take a test on day seven.

On arrival in the country you provide a déclaration sur l’honneur (sworn statement) that you will observe this, but there are no police checks. Quarantine can be done at a location of your choice, either a home or a hotel.

All arrivals into France from non-EU countries must present at the border a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours. This must be a PCR test – antigen tests and home-testing kits are not accepted.

Travel from most non-EU countries is allowed for essential reasons only, but there are seven countries – including the UK, Australia and New Zealand, from which travellers can come for any reason. 

For the full rules on non-EU travel, click HERE.

EU countries

Arrivals from within the EU do not need to quarantine in France.

Almost all arrivals into France from non-EU countries must present at the border a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours. This must be a PCR test, antigen tests and home-testing kits are not accepted. There are some groups who are exempt from the testing requirement including cross-border workers.

For the full rules on travel from within the EU, click HERE.

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HEALTH

France’s Covid-19 app to be ‘put to sleep’

France's Covid-tracker app, used for months for the all-important 'health pass' will be switched off today, health officials have confirmed.

France’s Covid-19 app to be 'put to sleep'

Covid-19 screening in France reaches an important milestone on Friday, June 30th, 2023 – when the TousAntiCovid app is officially ‘put to sleep’.

The app, which was launched in June 2020 as France came out of its first lockdown of the pandemic and has undergone a number of iterations, including as a delivery device for the health pass, will be switched off. 

For most people, this anniversary will pass without mention. Few people have consulted the app in recent months, and it has sat dormant on many smartphones since France’s Covid-19 health pass requirement was suspended in March 2022.

Meanwhile, the Système d’Informations de DEPistage (SI-DEP) interface – which has been informing people about their test results since the Spring of 2020 – is also being shut down on June 30th, as per legal requirements.

The SI-DEP shutdown means that it will also be impossible to retrieve Covid test certificates issued before June 30th, should the need arise. All data held by the database will be “destroyed”, officials have said.

It has handled more than 320 million antigen and PCR tests since it was introduced.

This does not mean that testing for Covid-19 has stopped, or is now unnecessary. As reported recently, more than 1,000 deaths a week in Europe are still caused by the virus.

The shutdown of the national information system does not mean that people in France cannot still book an appointment for an antigen test at a pharmacy, or a PCR test at a laboratory. But the number of people going for testing is declining rapidly. In recent days, according to Le Parisien, just 15,000 people in France took a Covid test – the lowest number, it said, since the pandemic started.

Reimbursement rules for testing changed on March 1st, with only certain categories of people – minors, those aged 65 and over, or immunosuppressed patients – covered for the entire cost of testing.

From Friday, only PCR test results will be transmitted to authorities for data purposes, meaning pharmacists that only offer antigen testing will be locked out of the online interface to record test results.

The reason for the shift in priorities is to maintain “minimal epidemiological surveillance”, the Ministry of Health has reportedly told scientists.

As a result test certificates, showing a positive or negative result, will no longer be issued from July 1st. Since February 1st, anyone taking a test has had to give consent to share their data in order to obtain a certificate. 

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