France to impose a fine of 1,500 euros on travelers from Argentina, Brazil and Chile who violate the quarantine

Travelers from Brazil, Argentina, Chile and South Africa who violate the mandatory 10-day quarantine upon arrival in France will be charged a fee. € 1,500 fine ($ 1,800), government spokesman Gabriel Attal announced on Monday.

“The police will carry out checks to verify that they are in the place where they should be isolatedAttal told Europe 1 radio. In the event of a repeat offense, the fine will be increased to 3,000 euros, he added.

“It seems to me that it is a dissuasive element”, underlined the spokesperson, after explaining that the people who disembark from these four countries will be subjected to an order of the prefect to isolate themselves for ten days in a direction of their choice.

In addition, To be able to fly to France, you must present a negative PCR test carried out no more than 36 hours before and not 72 hours as before.. PCR may have been performed up to 72 hours before the flight, but in this case it will need to be supplemented by an antigen test within 24 hours.

France announced on Saturday it would establish a mandatory 10-day quarantine for travelers from Brazil, Argentina, Chile and South Africa, amid growing concern over COVID-19 variants .

Flights with Brazil are suspended, but they are maintained with the other three countries since, according to Paris, the presence of variants “does not reach the levels observed in Brazil”. The mandatory quarantine for these travelers will be phased in until it comes into full effect on April 24. It will also affect travelers from the French territory of Guyana, located in South America.

The French government spokesperson acknowledged that “European coordination has not been perfect” on this issue of checks on travelers from outside the EU and reiterated his country’s desire to correct this situation.

From the outset, the 27 ministers will address this issue on Tuesday. The main thing will be to establish a common classification of countries considered at risk.

To those of the opposition criticizing the Macron executive for the lack of such coordination, he replied that Paris had decided in January to limit the entry of extra-European travelers to those who had “an imperative motive “.

In addition, he noted that passenger traffic from countries outside the EU is only 10% of what there was before the outbreak of the coronavirus crisis.

France suspended flights from Brazil on the 14th due to the threat of importing cases of a variant of COVID-19 that circulates widely there and is considered particularly dangerous. This suspension should last until the 24th and from that day, only French people, direct relatives or residents of France, will be able to enter France from this country.

(With information from AFP and EFE)

KEEP READING: