Faced with the disturbing Omicron variant, which appeared in South Africa, France is protecting itself.
The suspension of flights from seven southern African countries, decreed last Friday, is extended until Saturday, announced Clément Beaune this Wednesday morning on RTL.
The countries concerned are Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
LiveCovid-19: France extends flight suspension from seven southern African countries
“
Today, 23 European countries have taken the same measures to restrict access or suspend flights,
” recalled the Secretary of State for European Affairs.
The latest, Spain, which decided on Tuesday to suspend flights from seven southern African countries from Thursday until December 15.
A test to travel between France and these southern African countries
After Saturday, Clément Beaune announced that an “
extremely reinforced
”
European protocol
, currently under discussion between the Twenty-Seven, would take over. It will include restrictions already taken against countries "
on the red list
" during previous waves of Covid-19 ("
test on arrival, test on departure and isolation
"). "
We will undoubtedly go even further,
" added the secretary of state
,
explaining that even vaccinated people would probably have to undergo a test to travel between France and these countries of southern Africa. And this,
"to verify that the variant is isolated, identified and that it enters as little as possible on our territory
".
Read alsoCovid-19: for the WHO, travel bans will not slow down Omicron
His colleague in the government, the Minister Delegate in charge of Transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, confirmed a few minutes later on CNEWS the implementation "
in the next few days
" of this protocol.
"
We are going to reopen these lines in a very limited way and for essential reasons
", he declared.
The same protocol "
will certainly apply
" for travel to and from Réunion, where the first case of the Omicron variant in France was identified on Tuesday, he also announced.
