An Air France plane at Nice Côte d'Azur airport (illustration) -

Lionel Urman / Sipa USA / SIPA

  • The Alpes-Maritimes department, the most affected in mainland France, now shows an incidence rate, up to 580 confirmed cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 inhabitants.

  • The prefecture and the Regional Health Agency (ARS) Paca have decided to very quickly step up the control of passengers at Nice airport.

The wave is rising.

Inexorably.

The Alpes-Maritimes department, the most affected in mainland France, now shows an incidence rate, up to 580 confirmed cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 inhabitants.

A situation that is still difficult to explain but that some could attribute, at least in part, to air transport.

"Having an international airport can be a source of variants", recently explained to

20 Minutes

Professor Christian Pradier, head of the public health department at the Nice University Hospital.

The mayor of Nice demanded that the water in the toilets of certain planes be analyzed.

The prefecture and the Regional Health Agency (ARS) Paca have for their part decided to very quickly increase passenger control.

“From Monday, entire flights will be subjected to PCR tests upon landing, looking for variants, announces at

20 Minutes

Commissioner Josselin Moiso, head of the Nice Airport Border Police (sPAFa).

This will mainly concern flights from countries other than those belonging to the Schengen zone.

"

More than 50% of variants in the Alpes-Maritimes

Currently, the tarmac in Nice, whose activity is reduced by more than 70%, continues to see planes landing from Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco, Russia and the United Kingdom.

According to Biogroup laboratories, from February 8 to 14 in the Alpes-Maritimes, 48.1% of positive cases were due to the English variant and for 2.1%, they were South African and Brazilian variants.

"The health authorities will then take care of close monitoring," added the head of the sPAFa in Nice.

This system will be added to the random tests that we were already doing on site.

Out of 200 analyzes carried out in February on the spot, only one came back positive.

"

It will also complete the control of documents presented by the passengers themselves.

Since January 31, all travelers arriving in France from any other country, including those in the Schengen zone, must prove a negative PCR test of less than 72 hours.

The sPAFa takes care of the descent of planes, in addition to checking the companies on departure.

Eighteen people fined and eight others turned back in February

20

Minutes

had wanted to see how these controls were carried out in Nice, the third airport in France after those in Paris, but encountered a closed door.

The police "did not give a favorable response" to our request, indicated the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes.

Without further explanation.

Commissioner Josselin Moiso nevertheless revealed to

20 Minutes

the result of these checks since the beginning of February.

Eighteen people, French nationals or individuals residing in France, were fined and subjected to a quarantine order.

Eight passengers from other countries also fell under "medical refusal" and were turned away.

"Either they did not have a PCR to present, or it was not up to date, but there was, a priori, no problem with false tests", specifies the head of the sPAFa in Nice.

On Wednesday,

20 Minutes

went to question freshly disembarked passengers, in the public areas of the Riviera platform, of which only one of the two terminals has been open since the health crisis.

Direction therefore the ground floor of the rotunda, in T2, where all arrivals are now concentrated.

Behind the automatic doors, the customs area is well hidden, invisible even from the other side.

"A little less well organized here"

11 h.

Few flights are listed on the notice board.

The Iberia 8726 plane, coming from Madrid, had landed a little early, at 10:55 am.

25 minutes later, a young blonde woman was the first to cross the barrier, in a gust of wind: "I think some were stopped because their test was too old," she said before resuming her path .

Fatima was annoyed: “We know we're back in France!

In Spain, there were a lot more of them for this check and things were going fast.

Here, they are two, one of which goes back and forth.

So inevitably, a long queue has formed.

"

Arrivals at Nice airport, Wednesday February 17, 2021 - F. Binacchi / ANP / 20 Minutes

Especially since in the meantime, KLM flight 1253, which left Amsterdam, has also disembarked its travelers.

Entered the tram which was waiting for them just in front of the terminal, direction the city center of Nice, the Italian Florini and the Iberian Marta, explains, in almost perfect French: “We lost half an hour.

It might be a little less organized here, but at least here you don't have to pay to take your PCR tests.

In Spain, it's at least 60 euros.

It costs more than the ticket ”.

Coronavirus

Véran considers the situation "very worrying" in Nice, new places will be opened in real time.

Covid-19

Why all these cases in Nice?

"The airport can be a source of variants," says a researcher

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