Some European arrivals in France need to show 24-hour -ve virus test

Paris, July 17: France said Saturday it would require people not fully vaccinated and arriving from some European countries to show a negative Covid test taken within the previous 24 hours.

Arrivals from the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus, Greece and the Netherlands will be subject to the new rule, which comes into effect at midnight Saturday into Sunday, Prime Minister Jean Castex said in a statement.

To date, people arriving from the United Kingdom are required to show a negative test taken within the past 48 hours.

Arrivals from Spain, Portugal, Cyprus, the Netherlands and Greece have had to show tests taken within 72 hours.

But Castex said that people who are fully vaccinated with a jab recognised by the European Medicines Agency — Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson — will not be required to show a test.

The statement said the exemption was in place because “vaccines are effective against the virus, and in particular its variant Delta”.

France will consider people fully vaccinated one week after they received they second dose of Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca, instead of 14

days previously, and 28 days after their Johnson & Johnson jab, Castex said.

France will now also accept vaccination by Covishield, a copy of the AstraZeneca vaccine made by the Serum Institute of India, for its health pass.

The government also said that Tunisia, Mozambique, Cuba and Indonesia

will be added to France’s so-called red list.

Travel from red-list countries is only allowed on pressing grounds and even then vaccinated travellers must self-isolate for seven days.The new measures come as several European nations battle rising caseloads.