Paris (AFP)

France reopens its doors from Wednesday to certain returns from the United Kingdom, with a negative test for the coronavirus and the variant which has spread across the Channel, and is organizing the start of the vaccination on Sunday.

The French and foreigners who reside in France or in the European area as well as those who "must make essential trips", may return to France, but must "have, before departure, the result of a negative test (. ..) of less than 72 hours ", either PCR, or antigen, provided that it is sensitive to the coronavirus and its variant, said Matignon.

"We have worked hard with our counterparts and the British authorities (...) to allow from tomorrow morning both boats, obviously trains and Eurostars, and also planes, to be able to restart safely", immediately asserted the Minister of Transport Jean-Baptiste Djebbari.

According to him, "there is a list of antigenic tests which are qualified and which we will obviously communicate to all those interested and to all the authorities that will issue them.

The European Commission had recommended Tuesday to EU member states to facilitate the resumption of trafficking with the United Kingdom whose isolation, linked to the discovery on its territory of a variant of the coronavirus, sowed chaos in its relations with the continent.

According to British authorities, this new variant of the coronavirus increases its transmission by 40 to 70%.

Since midnight Sunday, France, like many European countries including Germany and the Netherlands, had suspended the movement of people and goods from the United Kingdom for 48 hours.

"This deadline allowed for consultation between the European Commission and the Member States based on the health risk analysis published on December 20 by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), as well as constructive bilateral exchanges between the French and British governments ", explained the services of the head of the French government.

- Record of tests -

The interruption in traffic caused a strong disruption in the transport of goods, a few days before Christmas, blocking dozens of heavy goods vehicles at the port of Dover, on the south coast of England, transformed into a giant car park and around which truck traffic jams stretch for miles.

On the other side of the Channel, at the port of Calais, almost petrified on Monday by the announcement of the French government, activity resumed slightly on Tuesday, being organized around unaccompanied freight, the only one authorized, in the waiting for new government announcements.

The European branch of the World Health Organization (WHO) is due to convene its members on Wednesday morning to discuss strategies to be carried out in the face of the new variant of the coronavirus and "is monitoring the situation closely," said its regional director, Hans Kluge , on Twitter.

In the meantime, the French government is organizing the vaccination campaign which is due to start on Sunday for "a few dozen" residents in "two or three" establishments for the elderly, the priority target of the first vaccination campaign, Minister of Health Olivier said on Tuesday evening. Véran on TF1.

One of the nursing homes will be "on the side of Paris, not very far from Paris, another on the side of Bourgogne Franche-Comté and then possibly a third which is under discussion", declared the minister, specifying that the first vaccines would be "delivered on Saturday" on the territory.

In the coming days, the first doses will travel between the warehouses of the American company Pfizer in Puurs, Belgium, and the 7,200 establishments for the elderly in France.

Overflight of trucks by drones, limited number of stops, strict confidentiality of storage places: the delivery to France of doses of Covid-19 vaccines is subject to drastic security measures.

The epidemic seems to mark a slight rebound in certain departments in recent days, while the number of daily tests carried out - in particular antigenic - reached records, three days before Christmas.

On Tuesday, the PS mayors of Nancy, Mathieu Klein, called for a rapid decision by the government on a possible reconfinement, while his counterpart in Reims, Arnaud Robinet (LR), considered it necessary to "reconfine in a territorial or national way" after Christmas.

© 2020 AFP