• France wants to protect itself from the Brazilian and South African variants.

  • It will drastically tighten the conditions of access to its territory from the countries most affected by these variants.

  • Also, a quarantine will be imposed.

Finally, France has decided to tighten the conditions of access to its territory for people coming from several countries considered more at risk than others, where variants of Covid-19 circulate more than elsewhere.

For those who want to come to France from some South American countries in particular, it will be necessary to go through quarantine on arrival.

Who is concerned ?

What are the conditions for coming to France and how should the quarantine go? 

20 Minutes

takes stock.

Which countries are affected and from when?

Four countries are concerned. Three in South America: Brazil, Argentina, and Chile. One in Africa: South Africa. The French government justifies its decision by the strong circulation of variants of the coronavirus still not very present in France: the South African variant and the Brazilian variant. It was the latter who caused the suspension of flights between France and Brazil on April 14. The implementation of these new quarantine measures will gradually replace the suspension of flights: these will indeed resume from April 23 inclusive. It is in fact only from April 24 that these new restrictions will be fully applied. French Guiana, which has a long common border with Brazil and where the Brazilian variant is already largely in the majority is also concerned:not only border controls are reinforced but quarantine and also valid for trips from Guyana to France.

What does this quarantine correspond to?

It is not exactly about forty. Of course, for ten days people must remain isolated, but this isolation is done at home and not in hotels around airports, as is the case for example in the United Kingdom, Ireland or even New Caledonia. Also, the press release from Matignon announcing the implementation of these new measures specifies that the isolation is accompanied by "restriction of exit times": understood it is obviously possible to go out, at least a little. The government still promises to set up a "verification system" of "the existence of a suitable quarantine place" once arrived at destination. Checks must be carried out by the police or the gendarmerie to verify that the isolation is respected, if not the offender will be fined.

What are the valid reasons for coming to France?

This Sunday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, recalled on France 3 that the borders, outside the European Union, had been closed for a year, except for compelling family or professional reasons.

But in the case of the countries mentioned above, it is a matter of further reducing the number of valid reasons for going to France.

These “much more drastic” conditions, to use Jean-Yves Le Drian's phrase, are simple: French nationals, their children and spouses, if applicable.

That's all.

France cannot go further: it is a constitutional right to be able to enter the national territory when one is French or French.

What rules for testing?

Of course, it will always take a negative test to be able to claim to come to France.

But, here too, the conditions are hardened: usually it is necessary to justify a PCR test dating from less than seventy-two hours to embark.

For planes coming from these countries, the negative PCR test must now be less than thirty-six hours.

If you only have a PCR result of less than seventy-two hours, you will additionally need a negative result from an antigen test that is less than twenty-four hours old.

In addition, once arrived in France, travelers will have to undergo a new antigenic test.

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