Will France be put on red list?
‘The fear is this variant could evade vaccines’
Misery looms for 500,000 Britons already there who face exorbitant hotel quarantine
Families set to cross Channel fear their holidays will be cancelled at the last minute
MINISTERS are considering placing France on the ‘red list’ of countries – a move that would bring chaos and misery for 500,000 Britons estimated to be holidaying in the country this weekend.
The plan is being pushed by influential No 10 advisers – led by Jonathan Van-Tam, Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England – who fear the South African, or Beta, variant that is spreading in the country could evolve to evade vaccines.
The move would theoretically force returning travellers to pay £1,750 for ten days of quarantine in a hotel on their return.
The threat came as thousands of devastated families cancelled holiday plans yesterday after UK Ministers announced double-jabbed Britons will still have to quarantine on their return from France after ‘Freedom Day’ south of the Border tomorrow.
Last night, the Scottish Government followed the UK Government rule change and said even double-jabbed people will have to self-isolate.
There was fury after it emerged late on Friday that France would be excluded from plans to lift quarantine rules for countries on the amber travel list. But The Mail on Sunday has learned senior scientific and medical advisers want Ministers to go further and move France to red. The suggestion was first raised at a toplevel meeting at No10 on Tuesday and was still being considered last night.
Ministers were presented with data that the South African variant is spreading rapidly in France and accounted for one in ten of all new infections. There were also alarming warnings from some scientists that the AstraZeneca vaccine is less effective in protecting against the South African variant than other strains of the virus. Despite the threat of the variant, thousands of anti-vaccine protesters mobbed Paris yesterday.
Only 1,073 Beta cases have been confirmed in the UK so far, compared with 216,249 cases of the Indian – or Delta – variant which took hold earlier this year. A Government source last night said: ‘If the Beta variant continues to spread it [France] will have to go red. We can’t have it taking hold over here.’
Earlier, Professor John Edmunds, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), told the BBC: ‘There is some good evidence from South Africa that it [the Beta variant] can evade the immune response generated by the AstraZeneca vaccine more efficiently.’
But many, such as French MEP Véronique Trillet-Lenoir, say the UK’s mandatory quarantine policy is based on a misinterpretation of health data. She told Radio 4’s Today programme the Beta variant is ‘not present at all’ in mainland France – experts say its incidence is estimated to be at just 3.5 per cent and falling – with the country’s cases mainly being found in overseas territories such as the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean.
Also, the European Centre for Disease Control says the variant is more common in Spain and Greece.
Moving France to the red list would effectively destroy the summer holiday plans for millions of Britons and inflict further pain on the beleaguered tour operators.
The cost for one adult in a quarantine hotel is £1,750, with any subsequent adult or child over the age of 12 charged another £650. The cost for children aged five to 11 is £325.
There would also be a lack of accommodation as there are understood to be only about 20,000 hotel rooms available. France is the UK’s second most popular holiday destination with more than nine million visitors in 2019. It is also the most popular country for British second homeowners. There would also be logistical and diplomatic issues if France was added to the red list. The UK is reliant on France for food and medical supplies and the sheer number of entry points via air, road and sea would create challenges.
Travel expert Gemma Antrobus, of the Association of Independent Tour Operators, said: ‘The ability to put in hotel quarantines at those points or arrange logistics around them is possibly the reason why it didn’t hit red straight away.’
Holidaymakers and tour operators reacted with fury to the 11th hour change of travel rules to France – while eyebrows were raised across the Channel given the contrast in case numbers. In the seven days to July 14, there were 244,691 Covid-19 cases in the UK, compared with 27,713 in France.
The French government announced yesterday that it will require people arriving from the UK who are not double vaccinated to show a negative Covid-19 test taken within the previous 24 hours.
Previously, UK arrivals had been allowed to show a negative test taken within the last 48 hours.
An estimated 500,000 Britons are either in France or due to travel to, or through, the country within the next few days. John Keefe, from Eurotunnel, which runs the Shuttle
‘This will ruin summer for so many people’
operation for cars between Folkestone and Calais, said: ‘This will ruin summer for many people. It is disappointing that the Government has cancelled the option of quarantine-free travel for double-vaccinated parents and their families so close to the school holidays and so soon after they had confirmed that travel to France was safe.’
Willie Walsh, director-general of
the International Air Transport Association, said: ‘The Government is making life impossible for people who are desperate to see friends and family.
‘They promised freedom on the back of a successful vaccine programme and now pull the rug out from people at the 11th hour.’
From tomorrow, motorists passing through France in transit to the UK from Belgium, Germany or elsewhere will be regarded as arriving from France – and subject to quarantine when they reach Britain. Eurostar rail passengers from Brussels, Rotterdam and Amsterdam to London St Pancras will be unaffected because the train passes through France without stopping.
Stephen Gee, who runs a chalet business in the French Alps, had extended his holiday because he thought he would escape having to quarantine if he came back tomorrow. Instead he found himself having to rush back yesterday.
He said: ‘To change the rules on a Friday evening when no one has a chance to change anything very quickly for something happening on Monday is unbelievable.’
While travel firms can legally say they are still able to offer the holiday as booked and the fact that travellers must self-isolate is not their problem, in reality most airlines, ferry firms and tour operators are likely to offer flexibility with the chance to postpone the trip. Few will offer full refunds.
The Foreign Office does not warn against travel to France, meaning standard travel insurance policies will still be valid but it is unlikely that insurers will pay out for the additional costs such as extra tests and lost wages.