In order to limit the spread of the Brazilian and Indian variants, the government has announced a strengthening of the health protocol for people from India, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina and Chile.

Quarantine will now be mandatory and closely monitored, regardless of the result of the traveller's PCR test. 

Until then, they had to commit to respecting a 7-day isolation, like all travelers arriving in France.

But faced with the development of Covid-19 variants, the government decided to strengthen, as of Saturday, the protocol for people coming from Brazil, India, Chile, South Africa and Argentina - but also from Guyana, where the Brazilian variant spreads rapidly.

These will now be subject to a "10-day quarantine, decided by prefectural decree" and strictly controlled. 

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A PCR test of less than 36 hours required ...

Concretely, "only French and European nationals having their main residence in France will be able to enter the national territory" from these countries, according to Gérald Darmanin.

These travelers will have to justify on their arrival a PCR test "of less than 36 hours", against 72 previously, and will be "systematically" tested again, by an antigen test.

The quarantine will apply regardless of the result. 

... But around forty in any case

The place of this quarantine in France must have been declared to the airline before boarding, with proof of address or a hotel reservation - if these documents are not convincing, the trip may be prohibited.

Upon arrival, these supporting documents will be checked again. 

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Tightened controls and heavy fines 

Gérald Darmanin further affirmed that the controls of these quarantines would be "reinforced", in order to complete this "sanitary lock".

Outings can therefore only take place between 10 a.m. and noon.

Outside of these hours, the person concerned, followed by the Health Insurance in terms of health, may be checked at any time by the police and gendarmes.

The latter may issue the offender with a fine of 1,000 to 1,500 euros against 135 euros currently.

A place of quarantine soon imposed? 

Finally, the Minister of the Interior indicated that the government would introduce into the draft law on exiting the state of emergency regime, currently being debated in Parliament, a provision "aimed at further strengthening this quarantine system". It will thus be proposed to open the possibility to the public authorities "to impose a place of quarantine, in the very rare cases where the one chosen by the traveler does not allow effective isolation and effective control by the police" , he added, also indicating that the list of countries of origin concerned could "evolve if necessary".