Since Saturday, beware of those returning from India, Brazil, Chile, South Africa, Argentina, but also Guyana, where the Brazilian variant is spreading quickly, and who do not respect quarantine.
The police now unexpectedly check their presence at their quarantine location and can impose a fine ranging from 1,000 to 1,500 euros in the event of their absence.
"
Your ID, please
": Barely undergoing a ten-day quarantine after returning from India, Anuttama Ghosh sees the police knocking on his door. A control now systematic for all travelers returning from five countries at risk, facing the threat of new variants of Covid-19. A severe sanction that the 27-year-old Indian girl fully approves. "
The only language people understand today is that of money,
" she sighs, in the entrance of her vast apartment in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.
Back from New Delhi, this employee of an environmental NGO makes a point of strictly isolating herself and teleworking, in view of the "very
serious
" situation in her country.
Having two police officers on her landing, a few hours after her landing, "
it's a very good sign, it means that the government here is working
", she believes, in her colorful bathrobe, behind a flower mask.
It should be remembered that the Indian variant of Covid-19 and its "double mutation" are wreaking havoc.
India has more than 300,000 daily infections, its hospital system is on its knees, and 2,767 people have died in the last 24 hours, a sad national record.
Read also: India victim of the strongest epidemic wave of Covid-19
A hardened quarantine process in France
Prime Minister Jean Castex at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Sunday April 25, 2021. IAN LANGSDON / AFP
Like Anuttama, most travelers "
understand the control and action of the police,
" the deputy central commissioner of the 16th arrondissement told AFP.
Since Saturday, the police headquarters have informed him of all travelers who say they want to spend their quarantine in this wealthy district of the capital, for which he is responsible.
Within ten days of their quarantine, "
everyone will have to be checked (...) at least once
", assures the officer, who has not yet had to verbalize anyone.
"A
thousand euros fine, it's still quite dissuasive,
" he said.
The checks "
take place rather in the afternoon,
" he continues.
Because every day between 10 am and noon, travelers under house arrest can break their isolation in order to go shopping for basic necessities or to get some fresh air.
With these announced systematic controls, France has toughened its quarantine process quite radically.
Previously, travelers from countries outside the European Union simply had to declare on their honor their moral commitment to remain confined for seven days, under penalty of a fine of 135 euros.
Thanks to this turn of the screw, the government hopes to control the more contagious variants of the virus, which have appeared in South Africa, India and Brazil in particular.
An important issue, as the executive maintains its timetable for the gradual lifting of health restrictions for the month of May.
We have started the battle against these variants, which are a threat from which we must protect ourselves.
Jean Castex
"
We have started the battle against these variants, which are a threat against which we must protect ourselves
," insisted Jean Castex, traveling Sunday at Roissy airport.
The Prime Minister assures that "
all precautions are taken
" and that "
the variants (South African and Brazilian) are very few and tend to regress
".
Under house arrest not convinced
After a long flight, travelers sometimes have to wait more than an hour to pass all the stages of this new control system.
IAN LANGSDON / AFP
"
At the airport, we were all stranded together for two hours because of the antigenic tests, and that, already, is not great for the Covid
", says Rodrigo Laiz, back from Argentina.
Still poorly awake because of the jet lag, the forty-something opens the door without a mask in front of the police, who ask him to put it on.
He confides in isolating himself "
because it is the law
", but doubts "
that it will serve to stop the virus
".
For his round trip, the Argentinian had to perform “
four tests
” to prove that he did not have the Covid. “
I think that's enough,
” he blurted out, wearily. In the meantime, the death toll from Covid-19 has exceeded 60,000 in Argentina, where the number of cases of contamination increased sharply last week.
