In a dramatic policy of Covid tit-for-tat, France plans to impose around 40 arrivals to the UK, while Britain restores about 40 14 days for all travelers from France and the Netherlands.
The UK’s measures will come into force at 4am on Saturday. Also to Monaco, Malta, the Dutch territory of Aruba and the British Turks and Caicos Islands, british transport secretary Grant Shapps said.
The resolution to shorten the coronavirus ‘travel runners’ list made to ‘keep infection rates low’, Shapps tweeted on Thursday night.
“If you arrive in the UK after 04:00 on Saturday from those destinations, you will have to isolate yourself for 14 days,” he warned.
Less than an hour after the long-awaited British announcement, French warned that they expected the same.
The young French minister for European Affairs, Clément Beaune, tweeted on Thursday: “A British resolution that we regret and which will lead to some reciprocity, hoping that things will become general again as soon as possible.”
At this stage, no additional important points are known about French quarantine measures for arrivals in the Uk.
Britain will once again impose 14-day self-isolation on all arrivals from France and the Netherlands following the increase of new coronavirus outbreaks in the couple.
Quarantines and travel bans were observed throughout the Covid crisis. A provision of reciprocity comes into play in such decisions. But epidemiological problems sometimes dominate, as is the case in EU travel restriction decisions.
And as Shapps says, they have done it now in the UK. Something that is explained in the latest knowledge about the existing trend of coronavirus infections in Europe.
According to figures from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control of the thirteenth of August, the number of new instances in the last fortnight consisting of 100,000 is:
The stage in France has shown a strong uptrend over the past fortnight. Something that has also noticed Belgium and Norway reintroducing quarantines and restrictions on it and other neighbours. In the case of Belgium, partly to slow its advance inwards.
British expert Simon Calder has warned Britons recently travelling to France to make sure to book a ferry ahead of the scheduled race across the English Channel.
“With the 4am deadline on Saturday, it’s tempting to move home. But don’t show up early in Calais (or any other French port) without a reservation shown,” he tweeted, and the operators said the crossings are already very secretive.
The same can be said for Eurostar travel. It’s going to be a crazy race to get home, back and forth, before you’re 40. And this at a value tweeted Rory Boland, which one? Travel editor.
This time, the British government gave readers a two-day warning. While Spain was removed from the UK quarantine-free list a fortnight ago, tourists and others had a 24-hour notice.
Chaos will continue as people on both sides of the Channel struggle to return before their quarantine begins. And many holiday plans are in danger of being interrupted, as well as all bookings that go through with them.
This list of quarantine-free countries is constantly evolving as the Covid crisis in Europe is arousing. Travellers from 73 countries and territories were originally expected to forget UK quarantine regulations from 8 July. Now some are being deleted, others have been added.
Once all the most recent settings come into force, the list of countries without a quarantine requirement upon arrival in England will be around 70.
Many are still holding their breath as they wait for the UK to introduce Covid tests on arrival, like other Europeans, to reduce quarantine rules. But as the latest quarantine news shows, it’s not something the government is considering lately.
The new regulations for French arrivals will be an additional blow to the tourism and aviation industries, which are still recovering from Spain. A British study recently revealed that quarantines ended what was left of the European summer season and an impediment to the holiday.
I have 3 decades of experience as a journalist, foreign correspondent and writer-photographer. Working for print, virtual and radio media on 4 continents,
I have 3 decades of experience as a journalist, foreign correspondent and travel writer-photographer. Working for print, virtual and radio media on 4 continents, I am also an experienced hotel journalist and writer of travel guides and cultural histories in Australia, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and Borneo. Deep on the road between my Parisian and Australian bases, I write for Forbes with a globetrotting attitude and a topicality in travel, culture, hospitality, art and architecture. My hobby is to capture unique people, situations and occasions that I encounter along the way, whether in words and images. I have a bachelor’s degree in professional writing from the University of Canberra, a master’s degree in European journalism from Robert Schuman University in Strasbourg and a member of the Society of Travel Writers of the United States. Love for my wild local island of Tasmania fuels my commitment to sustainable travel and conservation.