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Famous for far more than its baguettes, berets and stripey Breton shirts, France sits high on the list of any traveler’s must-visit destinations list, and is bound to be a popular choice for travelers the world over when it’s time for a long-overdue summer vacation. However, getting into the country – and enjoying what it has to offer – is set to become much harder.
Fears about the potential spread of the more transmissible Delta variant have led the country to introduce restrictions not only on who can enter the country, but what travelers can do once they are actually inside. Here’s everything you need to know about this story.
Covid-19 In France – Information For Travelers
France has seen two major spikes of Covid-19 cases throughout the pandemic, though its more recent history with the virus suggests that it has turned a corner. November and April both recorded days where more than 80,000 new cases were discovered in the country, but the situation has dramatically improved, with yesterday bringing only 1,260 new cases to the country’s total.
France is also making steady progress with its vaccination campaign. Despite initial shortcomings as a result of supply issues throughout the EU, the country has now provided more than half of its inhabitants with one dose of the vaccine, and has fully vaccinated 36% of its citizens. However, in light of recent changes to restrictions, the number of people vaccinated is expected to see a sharp uptick in the coming weeks.
France’s Restriction Changes – Information For Travelers
France is set to become the latest country to make changes to who is allowed to visit, as the country tries to put a strategy in place designed at minimizing the chance of the Delta variant being imported from abroad. Speaking during a live TV appearance on Monday, France’s President Emmanuel Macron said: ”From this week, controls at our borders will be strengthened for those coming from high-risk countries, with strict isolation for unvaccinated travelers.”
The vague declaration was later clarified by the Europe Minister for France, Clément Beaune, who gave updates on changes to restrictions for three countries – the UK, Spain and Portugal. As far as the UK is concerned, fully vaccinated travelers can visit France for any reason without having to quarantine but must have a negative Covid-19 test taken within 72 hours of travel. Those who have had the AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine do not count as ‘fully vaccinated’ under French rules. Unvaccinated travelers however may only travel to France for essential reasons, must quarantine for 7 days and have a negative test result taken in the last 24 hours.
The rules are slightly more relaxed for Spanish and Portuguese travelers. Fully vaccinated travelers from these countries may travel to France for any reason, and do not need to quarantine or have a negative test. Unvaccinated travelers from Spain and Portugal can still travel for any purpose without having to quarantine, but they must show a negative test taken within 24 hours of travel.
Once travelers are in France, they will need to show a special Covid health pass from August in order to be able to do things such as visit a café, restaurant, mall or take a long-distance train. The new policy was also announced yesterday, and is seen as a way to allow people’s lives to head towards normality whilst also protecting them against potential exposure to the Delta variant, which has been dubbed as “the new enemy”. The announcement of such a policy led to an uptick in the number of people registering for vaccines in the country.
Read More:
Covid-19 Travel Insurance – Everything You Need To Know
Portugal and France Now Allow Unvaccinated American Tourists
What Not To Miss On Paris’ Right Bank
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This article originally appeared on TravelOffPath.com
Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
R
Wednesday 14th of July 2021
I hope that French people virulently protest these disgusting and oppressive vaccine passports, otherwise their lives are basically over. One day an experimental vaccine is mandatory, who knows what’s next?
Liberty
Tuesday 13th of July 2021
Absolutely ridiculous...
Per
Tuesday 13th of July 2021
So now France is off the travel list. For how long can we continue being afraid of a virus that has never been isolated and that pose no more risk than the common flu? Only a hidden agenda behind all this can explain these ridiculous restrictions.
Rachel Maus
Monday 26th of July 2021
@Danièle Heinen, Amen!! I am so sick of entitled people thinking they have the right to endanger others on the basis of some perceived individual liberty that (in their minds) trumps everyone else’s right to be safe and healthy. No vaccine, no travel, it’s the way it should be.
Danièle Heinen
Monday 19th of July 2021
@Per, well too bad; some people should remember that to traveling to a foreing country is a privilege, not a right, and you have to obey by the rule of the country you are visiting. These things also usually work on reciprocity which is definitely NOT the case as neither Canada or the USA are accepting travelers form Europe while citizens from both can go to several Eureopean countries albeit with some rules to follow. AND BTW the sequence of the virus was provided soemtimes in March of 2020 if my memory serves me right and ARN messenger is a technology studied since 1965. You are welcome to do a search on André Lwoff, Jacques Monod and François Jacob (Nobel Prize in Medicine, 1965)
Nana805
Sunday 18th of July 2021
@john, we’ll said.
john
Friday 16th of July 2021
@Witness, It is easy to say the risk is low when you are not part of the high-risk group (the elderly and immunocompromised). Would you want your grandparents boarding a plane or cruise without the passengers being tested or have their vaccination status verified?
"I'm in deep" sounds like something conspiracists would parrot. This is very, very basic scientific common sense to protect those at high-risk and to prevent a nightmare scenario where it spreads to other passengers.
By the way, your "survival of the fittest" quote doesn't make much sense here and most people use it incorrectly without actually understanding any of the reasoning behind that phrase. You are not in a high-stress, limited-resource environment that is posing a constant danger to your reproductive success.
At the end of the day, I'm all for opening borders and getting a vaccine passport in working order so travel can be fully restored.
Witness
Wednesday 14th of July 2021
@john, isolated or not the risk factors are beyond low. How else do you explain the complete hypocrisy and decimation of peoples lives over a virus as ridiculous as this? I can think of a million other things more dangerous. Just the fact that you mention using pcr tests means you're in deep and you can't see the forest for the trees. Everything needs to stop. Whatever happened to survival of the fittest/ natural selection? I want to live and if I die in the process well that's it, I'm not hiding from life. That's only afforded to the people who are making up or supporting any of these ridiculous rules.