Advertisement

France to quarantine travellers arriving from Spain

AFP
AFP - [email protected]
France to quarantine travellers arriving from Spain
Photo: AFP

France will impose quarantine on travellers arriving from Spain in a reciprocal measure after Madrid decided to restrict arrivals from Europe's Schengen zone, a presidential official said on Thursday.

Advertisement

Spain said it would from May 15th impose a 14-day quarantine period on all travellers arriving by air to avoid importing new virus cases.

"France will impose a 14-day quarantine from the moment Spain imposes the measure, based on the principle of reciprocity," a presidential official said.

And imposing these kinds of restrictions "did not represent the desire" of France, added the official.

Travel into France is currently heavily restricted - all non-essential travel is banned and anyone arriving in the country needs an international travel certificate.

READ ALSO

Advertisement

But the French government is hoping to gradually reopen France's borders to travel from within Europe ahead of the summer, with June 15th set as a possible date for deciding on an initial relaxation.

People arriving into France from Spain are invited to place themselves into a voluntary quarantine, starting on Monday, May 25th.

France is mirroring Spain's quarantine which only arrived to people arriving by air, so anyone driving across the border into France from Spain will not be covered by the quarantine.

The following groups will also be exempt, unless they are displaying symptoms

  • People in transit to another country, so for example British people travelling through France on their way home from Spain
  • Lorry drivers and other delivery staff
  • Bus or train drivers or ship's crew
  • Health professionals engaged in work to combat Covid-19
  • Diplomatic staff or police officials
  • Cross-border workers
  • People travelling for urgent family reasons such as providing care or attending the funeral of a close relative
  • People travelling travelling for work-related reasons for a stay of less than five days

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

Anonymous 2020/05/15 08:30
Probably a sensible measure between these two countries, even if it is painted as a 'tit for tat' measure. Given the announcement yesterday that there will not be a blanked exemption on entry to the UK for travellers from France, I do wonder if we will see similar reciprocity from the French authorities once the UK side decides what it is they will be doing.

See Also