“A test of less than twenty-four hours” travelers who have not been vaccinated against Covid-19 coming from Spain or Portugal, a country in the grip of a new epidemic wave, will be asked at French borders, said the French Secretary of State for European Affairs on Thursday (July 15th).
“For those who are not vaccinated, when they return from Spain and Portugal, because the situation in these countries is difficult, a test of less than twenty-four hours is to be done”, said Clément Beaune, specifying that “The measure should enter into force this weekend”. On the other hand, France will not require compulsory isolation for entrants from European countries, he added.
Until now, it took a negative PCR test of less than seventy-two hours or an antigen test of forty-eight hours to enter France from Spain and Portugal. These two major summer tourist destinations have been facing an upsurge in the Covid-19 epidemic for a few weeks, due to the Delta variant.
Spain’s concern
On July 8, Clément Beaune advised the French to “avoid Spain and Portugal”, due to the very sharp increase in Covid-19 cases in these two countries.
His message was then tempered by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, who simply called on the French to be vaccinated before crossing the Pyrenees.
But his comments have sparked both concern and disapproval in Spain, where tourism contributes 13% to GDP. Spanish tourism professionals expressed concern on Wednesday about a ” brake on “ on bookings after warnings from France and Germany, which classified the Iberian Peninsula ” risk area “.