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Travel from UK, Spain or Portugal to France: Stricter Covid test rules
Unvaccinated people entering France will need to show a negative test from less than 24 hours before departure
From tomorrow unvaccinated people entering France from the UK, Spain or Portugal will have to present a negative Covid test taken less than 24 hours before departure, The Connexion has been told.
Following tweets this week from European Affairs Minister Clément Beaune about a ‘reinforced regime’ for those coming in from the countries, a decree is expected shortly with direct effect, a spokeswoman from his office said.
Parmi les pays 🟠, régime renforcé aussi pour le Royaume-Uni : pour les non vaccinés, un test de ➖ de 24 h est exigé au départ (en plus du motif impérieux) 🇬🇧🇫🇷 https://t.co/iWM86mn2NJ
— Clément Beaune (@CBeaune) July 12, 2021
The timing of the decree is not known precisely, but it could be published as early as tonight, or otherwise is expected tomorrow (July 16), she said.
She said this followed the reference to ‘reinforced checks at the borders for people coming from at-risk countries’ that President Macron spoke of in his televised speech on Monday July 12.
This morning Mr Beaune confirmed the rule change relating to Spain and Portugal speaking to FranceInfo, saying “it should come into force this weekend”. However he did not mention the UK.
It only relates to unvaccinated people aged 12 or more, who prior to now have had to follow standard ‘amber’ (for the UK) or 'green' (for Spain and Portugal) rules which include a PCR test from less than 72 hours before or an antigen test from less than 72 hours ('green') or 48 hours ('amber') before.
As before, unvaccinated people also have to declare an essential reason for visiting France from the UK.
Apart from this change the countries remain on the amber (UK) and green (Spain and Portugal) lists and existing rules will continue to apply.
The spokeswoman said: “The rules evolve depending on the health situation. I know this change complicates them and that’s not fun for people, but it’s just based on circulation of the virus," she said.
Rising case rates, and prevalence of variants of concern such as the Delta variant are the main factors.
The Interior Ministry is expected to update its information page on the French colour system, to include the new rules.
