After Italy and Spain, and for lack of European strategy, France in turn opted for the strengthening of controls in order to limit the risks linked to the explosion of cases in China since the judgment of the Covid zero strategy.
MO12345lemonde with AFP
The presentation before boarding a negative covid-19 screening test of less than forty-eight hours will become compulsory on January 5 for travelers over 11 years old wishing to go to France from China, Can we read in a decree published on Saturday December 31 in the Official Journal.
“Optional random tests” will however be carried out from the 1 er January on arrival on national soil, and travelers will have to “isolate themselves in the event of a positive result”, said- He in this decree which specifies the decisions announced the day before. These measures, which also include the port of the compulsory mask during the flight, will remain in force until January 31.
After Italy and Spain, France opted in turn on Friday for the strengthening of controls in order to limit the risks linked to the sharp increase in contamination in China since the stopping of zero covid strategy.
The European Union members (EU) have failed to agree on a common strategy. The French government always says it is favorable to a “concerted” approach, but ensures that it was necessary to “take measures to protect the French without waiting for a European decision”.
“need for coherence”
On the side of the scientific community, we recommend the implementation without delay in health measures in order to avoid a domino effect. In the Sunday Journal, Yazdan Yazdanpanah, director of the research agency on emerging diseases, regrets these measures in dispersed order. “We need consistency”, because “consistency allows acceptability” in the population, he underlines.
In addition to the controls, the government invited people residing in France to postpone their flight to China for unperforming reasons. According to the Ministry of Health, the epidemic situation in China is “serious” enough to justify these measures. The executive notably mentions an “significant risk of intense circulation of the virus” with the “massive flows” which will accompany the celebrations of the Chinese New Year then the reopening of the borders, on January 8.
The Ministry of Transport is expecting a resumption of flights to France in the coming days. So far, the flows remained limited to a dozen rotations per week, representing approximately three thousand passengers, all for Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport.