The worrying COVID-19 variant is exhausting India’s health care system. And while India fights the second wave of the virus, many countries imposed restrictions on the in-bound passengers from India. A few days before, France had mandated 10-day quarantine for travellers arriving from India. Now Switzerland too has imposed immediate quarantine for 10 days for all Indian travellers entering the nation. Greece also found the double mutant on their soil.
Switzerland Reports Its First Case With The Indian COVID Variant
Switzerland has found the Indian COVID variant in a passenger who reached the country after transiting through a European airport. According to a Times of India report, spokesperson Daniel Dauwalder has said that the virus-affected person changed flights in a European country before entering Switzerland. The authorities had collected the test sample at the end of March in the northern canton of Solothurn. It came out to be positive. Following this, France imposed mandatory 10-day quarantine for incoming Indian travellers.
France has also announced that it will impose a 10-day quarantine for travellers arriving from India to contain the spread of the virus. The decision comes a few days after Paris announced a ban on all flights from Brazil to prevent the spread of P1 coronavirus variant.
France Had Decided To Slowly Open Up Its Borders
Europe has suffered a lot because of the covid-19 pandemic. And now finally, after a year, some countries in Europe are planning to welcome the tourists. One such country is France. Yep, France will ease covid-19 travel restrictions for international travellers. The foreign ministry said that travellers to or from Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Israel, Japan, Britain and Singapore would no longer need a necessary reason to travel.
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Travel Rules For These Countries Have Been Eased Keeping Their Covid Situation In Mind
French Tourism Minister Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne said this easing was due to the improving health situation in those countries. The list also includes Britain, and on this, he said on his Twitter feed,
“The list includes Britain because the UK variant now also circulates widely in France.”
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France Believes That Avoiding International Travel, For Now, Is A Better Option
While the country is easing the travel guidelines, requirements such as negative Covid-19 test less than 72 hours before travel would remain in place, the ministry said. Lemoyne further added that for other non-European Union countries, the list of authorised travel reasons would be extended, notably to take into account family situations.
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While France is easily the travel rules for certain countries, it still holds that limiting international travel is a better option for now. The ministry also said that, in general, it strongly recommends limiting international travel as much as possible. In fact, in order to curb the spread of the virus, France announced tighter rules on travel from outside the European Union on Jan. 14.
Well, with France reopening to certain countries, we hope that the cases in the country don’t see a surge.