The measure is maintained, despite the reaction of the countries concerned.
According to a decree published in the Official Journal this Wednesday morning, France maintains the suspension of flights from southern Africa until midnight Friday.
It should normally end on that night from Tuesday to Wednesday.
"We have extended the suspension of flights to seven southern African countries," confirmed the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune, this Wednesday morning on RTL.
“23 European countries have taken the same measures - restricting access or outright suspension.
This time the coordination worked, ”he commented.
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Secondly, there will be "an extremely reinforced protocol that we are in the process of defining in coordination with our European partners to be more effective" by Saturday. Among the avenues envisaged, “tests on arrival, on departure, isolation and we will undoubtedly go even further to require, probably, tests including for vaccinated people to verify that the variant is isolated, identified and let him enter the territory as little as possible, ”said Clément Beaune.
"We know this protocol, it has already worked", commented, for his part, the Secretary of State in charge of transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, on CNews, citing in particular the need to have a "compelling reason" for these trips.
"Any French who is currently in these countries of southern Africa will be able to return to France", he assured.
Measures deemed ineffective by the WHO
Behind this decision, the fear of seeing the development of an Omicron variant in the territory.
For now, a first case has been identified in France, in Reunion.
This extension comes as the WHO ruled on Tuesday the “general travel bans” as unnecessary, since they “will not prevent the spread”.
These measures "can have a negative impact on global health efforts during a pandemic by discouraging countries from reporting and sharing epidemiological and sequencing data," the WHO warned.
For its part, South Africa had already reacted to the various travel bans.
The president, Cyril Ramaphosa, notably asking for the “immediate and urgent lifting” of these restrictions, deeming them devoid of “scientific justification”.
