France to tighten rules for travellers from UK, Sweden extends covid vaccination rules

France will beef up controls on travellers arriving from Britain after a steep rise there in infections linked to the Omicron coronavirus variant, the government said on Thursday.

The measures include reducing the validity of antigen and PCR tests to 24 hours from 48 hours for arriving travellers and limiting reasons to travel from Britain to France.

“We are going to put in place a control….even more drastic than what is currently in place,” government spokesman Gabriel Attal told BFM television.

“Tourism and business travel for people who are not French nationals nor Europeans, people who are not French residents will be limited,” he said.

Travellers from Britain arriving in France will have to self-isolate for seven days, though isolation will be lifted after 48 hours if their test conducted in France is negative.

These restrictions until now applied only to non-vaccinated travellers from Britain.

“Our goal is to limit as much as possible the spread of Omicron across our territory,” Attal said, adding there were currently 240 confirmed Omicron cases in France.

British transport minister Grant Shapps said on Thursday that hauliers would be exempt from new COVID-19 controls being introduced by France on travellers arriving from Britain.

“To confirm I have liaised with my French counterpart … and hauliers will remain exempt,” he said on Twitter.

The latest figures released on Wednesday showed new COVID-19 infections in the United Kingdom reached the highest daily level since the early 2020 start of the pandemic, with more than 78,000 reported.

France on Wednesday reported 65,713 new coronavirus infections over 24 hours, bringing total cases since the start of the epidemic to 8.4 million. Total deaths in France since the start of the epidemic reached 120,983

Sweden will require visitors from other Nordic nations to have a vaccine pass to cross the border as it gradually tightens restrictions in the face of rising number of COVID-19 infections and worries about the Omicron variant, the government said on Thursday.

Sweden has seen new infections jump in recent days, if from levels below most European countries. It has reintroduced a limited number of measures and authorities said further steps would be needed if infections kept rising.

“The new virus variant Omicron makes it hard to predict how things will develop,” Health Minister Lena Hallengren told a news conference. “In Sweden, we are in a relatively better position, but even here infections and the burden on the health care system is increasing.”

The extension of vaccine pass rules to cover Nordic countries, hitherto the only nations not covered by the requirement, will come into force on Dec. 21.

Authorities also warned tighter restrictions may well be announced next week when the Public Health Agency publishes an update on how it sees the pandemic developing ahead.

“We need to prepare for a worsening situation,” Karin Tegmark Wisell, the head of the Public Health Agency, said.

“We may communicate further measures next week to slow down the spread of infection.”

The centre-left government has laid out a three-tier road map for its response to an increase in infections.

A number of measures have already been put into place and authorities are preparing for an extension of COVID pass demand to venues such as restaurants.

Earlier this week, Norway tightened COVID restrictions in a bid to limit the spread of the Omicron variant amid record levels of infections and hospitalizations.

Denmark has also reintroduced many restrictions, including closing primary schools in the lead-up to Christmas.