Quarantine for some travelers: isolation must be better "controlled", according to Amouyel

A ten-day quarantine goes into effect from Saturday for all travelers returning from Brazil, India, Chile, South Africa, Argentina and Guyana.

A good measure, believes Philippe Amouyel, professor of public health at the Lille University Hospital, but which will only be effective in the event of strict controls of isolation measures.

INTERVIEW

Will this measure prevent a new rebound in the coronavirus epidemic?

While the potential spread of the Brazilian, South African or even Indian variants worries the health and political authorities, a ten-day quarantine comes into force from Saturday for all travelers returning from Brazil, India, Chile, d 'South Africa, Argentina but also Guyana.

On Europe 1, Philippe Amouyel, professor of public health at Lille University Hospital, welcomes the implementation of this measure, but insists: for it to be effective, this quarantine policy must be strictly applied and controlled. 

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"Quarantine is essential," insists Philippe Amouyel, especially in the face of the risk of the spread of variants.

"We have these variants on our doorstep. They have probably already arrived on French soil. We must avoid them taking precedence over the old variants that we have known as the British did," he continues.

And for that, the priority is to "limit their origin".

Quarantine ?

"We should have done it for a while" 

"The quarantine, we should have done it for some time," points out the professor of public health.

But, he adds immediately, it cannot be sufficient on its own, and "must be associated with isolation measures that we can control".

Noting that the fine in the event of fraud has been high (it will oscillate between 1,000 to 1,500 euros), he confides that he has "trouble understanding why those who are in quarantine have the right to go out between 10 am and noon".

For Philippe Amouyel, it would have been better to "maintain this mandatory quarantine" as other countries have done.

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More generally, the guest from Europe 1 is cautious when predicting a possible decrease in contamination.

"To know if we have passed the peak of this new wave, we will have to wait a little longer," he warns, recalling that France records contamination rates "among the highest in Europe".

"We are at 463 cases per million inhabitant, the United Kingdom is at 37", notes the specialist, who also underlines that in France, due to the drop in the number of tests carried out, "there is a risk to further underestimate this threshold ".