New measures concerning the Moselle were announced this Thursday morning, in a joint statement by the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran and the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune.
From Monday March 1, France will request PCR tests of less than 72 hours for non-professional cross-border trips between Germany and the Moselle.
"The exemption from the obligation to present a PCR test of less than 72 hours upon entering the national territory will be limited to professional activities only", warned the ministers.
The reinforcement of teleworking is also requested for cross-border workers.
No border closures
In addition, weekly iterative tests should be set up for people crossing the border as part of their professional activity, according to BFMTV.
To ensure the proper application of these new measures, joint French and German police patrols could be stepped up in the territory.
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These new measures come as Germany threatened to cross the Moselle into a "high incidence zone", or even "zone affected by variants of the virus" at the start of the week, due to the explosion of cases of variants in the French department, which could have led to an outright closure of the border.
Finally, discussions were initiated on the subject between the ministers of health of the two countries, specifies the site Actu.fr.
“Our response is based on cooperation rather than individual national efforts and a common and coherent strategy to improve protection against infections in the border region,” commented Tobias Hans, Minister President of the Saarland.