Five minutes to understand the new border restrictions

New turn of the screw at the borders.

Prime Minister Jean Castex announced on Friday evening new measures aimed at severely limiting arrivals on French soil.

In the absence of a new containment, the head of government hopes that this will prevent a worsening of the health situation linked to Covid-19.

These provisions will come into force at midnight on the night of Saturday to Sunday.

Several meetings are planned in the ministries this Saturday in order to draw up the precise modalities.

Here is what we know at this stage.

What are the new measures?

On the one hand, travelers from a country outside the European area will be prohibited from coming to France, except for an overriding reason (death of a loved one, professional emergency, etc.).

By "European area", we must understand the European Union as well as eight other countries of the continent: Andorra, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norway, San Marino, the Vatican and Switzerland, says Matignon.

This measure will also concern French nationals, insists the Quai d'Orsay for its part.

But can we really prevent them from going home?

"I pleaded so that a French traveling to Montreal or Ouagadougou, for example, can return home", indicates us the LREM deputy of the French abroad Roland Lescure.

A kind of tolerance could also be expected during the first days.

Until then, "any French as well as his spouse and his children [could] return to France subject to compliance with the health rules in force," we read again this Saturday morning on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

VIDEO.

Jean Castex: large non-food shopping centers closed and strict border controls

In addition, within the European area, a negative PCR test will now be imposed on any traveler who goes to France by plane, boat, or, and this is new, by train or car.

On January 14, Jean Castex had already announced that being tested would be compulsory to come to France from a non-European country.

A week later, this also concerned travelers from a mainland state, but except those arriving by land.

Finally, any travel from or to overseas territories from the metropolis must also be justified by a compelling reason.

What will the controls be?

It is of course conceivable to ensure that travelers arriving in France from another European country all have a negative PCR test.

In a telegram sent to the prefects on Friday and which Le Parisien was able to consult, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin asked to "deploy random checks in stations and main crossing points".

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Regarding travel from and to a country outside the European area, it is stated that "the responsibility for control will lie with the transport companies, themselves controlled by the border police".

Travel certificates must be posted online “during the day”, indicates Place Beauvau.

How does the government justify itself and respond to criticism?

Many elected representatives of the National Gathering recalled that they had asked for a closure of the borders at the beginning of 2020. “So much time wasted in finally deciding, in disaster, on border control and reinforced controls ... ", For example tackled Marine Le Pen on Twitter Friday evening.

So much time wasted to finally make up our minds, in a disaster, on border control and reinforced controls ...

From the start, without being listened to, we have been saying that this is one of the most effective ways to slow down 'epidemic.

MLP #Castex # Covid19

- Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) January 29, 2021

On the side of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it is answered that the external borders of the European Union were already subject to restrictions since March 18.

Any travel is also "totally and strictly not recommended until further notice" by the Quai d'Orsay.

But a negative test was often mandatory only from a part of foreign countries, those considered at risk.

"We took, in March 2020, measures that have increased in coordination with the European Union", it is also argued in the entourage of Jean Castex.

The main novelty in the Friday night announcements is that some French nationals, for example those living abroad, could also be affected by the ban on coming to France.

What are other countries doing?

Since the beginning of the crisis, the various European states have steadily advanced in dispersed order.

A few hours before Jean Castex's speech on Friday evening, Germany announced the ban on arrivals on its soil from this Saturday, but only from five states very affected by the pandemic (United Kingdom, Ireland, Brazil, Portugal and South Africa).

Unlike France, these measures do not concern Germans living there or nationals of these countries living in Germany.

In Portugal, faced with a strong epidemic wave since the beginning of January, travel abroad has been prohibited since Saturday.

In Belgium, non-essential trips to and from another country (European or not) have been banned since Wednesday, unless there is a compelling reason.

Passengers from the United Kingdom, South Africa or South America must also respect a ten-day quarantine and carry out a PCR test on the first and seventh day, indicate the Belgian health authorities.

What do epidemiologists think?

We know that the virus does not travel on its own, but through the people it infects.

At first glance, limiting arrivals on French soil therefore seems like a good idea.

"If we closed the borders, I think we could succeed in reducing the number of contaminations," said LREM deputy and immunologist Jean-François Eliaou on Friday evening.

"These measures would be effective in preventing the arrival of variants very few present on the territory, provided that the measures are European and that a true protocol of tests and effective isolation for those who arrive is applied", point of his aside the epidemiologist Mahmoud Zureik.

On the other hand, "for frequent variants in the territory, these measures would have no impact," he adds.

However, the so-called “English” variant of SARS-CoV-2 would now represent around 2,000 cases per day, or 10% of those recorded daily on average, said Olivier Véran on Thursday.

On March 13, 2020, the Minister of Health affirmed, based on the opinion of the Scientific Council, that the closure of the borders was “scientifically irrelevant”.

In his defense, it was before the first confinement and at a time when not many people imagined that the situation would be what it is almost a year later.

He had also specified that the question "will arise vis-à-vis [non-European] countries which have not fully realized the viral threat".

Olivier Véran on closing the borders: "Scientifically, it is of no interest" #Coronavirus # Covid_19 # Europe1 pic.twitter.com/24AgXFMKMo

- Europe 1 🎧🌍📻 (@ Europe1) March 13, 2020