France to ban British tourists amid rise in Omicron cases

British tourists are to be banned from France as Omicron cases continue to rise. 

From Saturday morning (December 18th), France is banning all travel to and from the UK without ‘compelling reasons’. 

These reasons do not include tourism or business purposes, though French nationals and their spouses are exempt from the new rules.

France said in a statement: “In the UK government’s own words, the UK is facing a ‘tidal wave’ of the Omicron variant in the coming days.

“In response to the extremely rapid spread of the Omicron variant in the UK, the government is reinstating compelling reasons for travel to and from the UK, and strengthening the requirement for testing on departure and arrival.”

A government spokesperson added that measures will include reducing the validity of PCR tests to twenty-four hours from forty-eight hours for travellers arriving from Britain.

@lucidtech / Wikimedia Commons

This comes just one day after the UK’s travel red list was scrapped after it was found to be ‘less effective in slowing the incursion’ of the Omicron variant.

All eleven countries were removed yesterday at 4am, meaning that passengers travelling from those locations will no longer have to isolate in a government-approved quarantine hotel for two weeks.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid added that the temporary testing measures for everyone arriving in the UK from overseas will remain for now.