The French government announced, Thursday, December 16, to restore from Saturday the obligation of "compelling reasons" for travelers from and to the United Kingdom in the face of "the extremely rapid distribution of the Omicron variant" in this country.

There will be "an obligation to have a compelling reason to travel to or come from the United Kingdom, for unvaccinated people like vaccinated people", but these reasons "will not allow travel for tourist or professional reasons", the government said in a statement.

He also called on travelers to "postpone their trip" to the UK.

>> To read on France24.com: Covid-19: what do we know about the Omicron variant?

Everything that is tourism, business travel for people who do not have French or European nationality, who are not resident in France, will be limited, "said government spokesman Gabriel Attal on BFM TV.

Vaccinated people must, like people not already vaccinated, present a negative test, PCR or antigen, within 24 hours.

240 cases detected in France

Finally, "those who arrive on our UK soil will be required to self-isolate in a location of their choosing for seven days, controlled by security forces, but the isolation may be lifted after 48 hours if a negative test was done once arrived in France, "added Gabriel Attal.

This framework, he said, will allow "to tighten the mesh of the net to slow down as much as possible the arrival of cases of Omicron variant on our soil".

According to the spokesperson for the executive, France has so far detected 240 cases of the Omicron variant, but the number is probably much higher.

"Our logic is to delay as much as possible the development of the Omicron variant on our territory […] because the vaccination booster is effective on the variant", explained Gabriel Attal.

The government is calling on travelers who had planned to go to the United Kingdom to postpone their trip.

With AFP and Reuters

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