France has implemented a mandatory quarantine for travelers from Argentina, Brazil, Chile and South Africa

France will impose a mandatory quarantine of 10 days for travelers arriving from Brazil, Argentina, Chile and South Africa, in response to growing concerns about new strains of coronavirus, the Prime Minister’s Office reported.

The French authorities, who had already announced on Tuesday the suspension of air links with Brazil to stop the variant from this country, They will maintain flights with Argentina, Chile and South Africa, but their crew must do a mandatory 10-day quarantine and fines will be tightened to be respected.

The Prime Minister’s office clarified that it maintains flights with Argentina, Chile and South Africa since in these countries the presence of variants “does not reach the levels observed in Brazil”.

The mandatory quarantine for its travelers will be applied gradually from April 24, and will also affect those who come from the French territory of Guyana.

“A system will be put in place to check, before boarding and upon arrival, that there is a place suitable for quarantine and health requirements and controls to comply with quarantine, carried out by police and gendarmes, and which will be accompanied by a tightening of fines in the event that isolation is not respected, ”they said from the office of French Prime Minister Jean Castex.

The French administration will also tighten up for travelers from these countries the reasons and type of people who can travel, limiting them to French and direct relatives and other EU citizens residing in France.

From now on, it will be necessary to have a negative PCR test of less than 36 hours, instead of 72 hours.

These travelers should also systematically make a antigen test upon arrival at the airport.

In the case of SpainFor example, on Saturday it was announced that will maintain at least until May 3 the mandatory ten-day quarantine for travelers from Brazil, Peru and Colombia, as well as nine African countries, to prevent the spread of new variants of the coronavirus.

The measure establishes that people arriving by plane from any airport in Brazil, Peru and Colombia or South Africa, Botswana, the Union of the Comoros, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, of Zambia and Zimbabwe must quarantined for ten days after arrival or during your entire stay in Spain if it is less than this period.

France recorded a slight decrease in the number of patients admitted to intensive care for the coronavirus, although it is still well above the maximum authorized capacity under normal circumstances (around 5,000 beds).

With 359 admissions in one day, the country’s ucis have 5,877 ucis patients, 37 less than the day before if departures are taken into account. A total of 30,329 patients are hospitalized in the country, 143 less than yesterday. Deaths from the virus also fell during those 24 hours, when 189 deaths were recorded, against 300 on average in recent days.

With information from AFP

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