Advertisement

France ‘on brink of joining travel quarantine red list’ as coronavirus cases double in three weeks

REUTERS
REUTERS

Ministers will discuss today whether holidaymakers returning to the UK from France should have to go into 14-day quarantine as the country suffers a spike in coronavirus cases.

Downing Street will debate adding France to its “red list” of higher-risk destinations after it recorded 10,800 new Covid-19 infections in the past week.

Amendments to the list will be considered at a meeting chaired by Cabinet Minister Michael Gove, The Times reports.

However, the final decision may be delayed until later in the week as the Government continues to monitor the situation.

“As we speak now France is probably just shy of crossing the line but it’s certainly right on the cusp,” a source told the newspaper.

“It’s such a huge call it’s likely that they might want to wait a few more days and get some more data.”

Last year 9.27 million Britons holidayed in France, making it the most popular destination after Spain.

The country is seeing around 2,000 new cases of the disease each day compared to 1,000 three weeks ago, French Prime Minister Jean Castex told a press briefing on Tuesday.

"About 25 new clusters are identified every day compared to five three weeks ago," he added.

France’s 14-day average of 29.4 cases per 100,000 compares with 17.1 in the UK, according to data compiled by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

Meanwhile, Portugal is seeing a sharp drop in cases, meaning it is likely to be added to the safe list of so-called travel corridors.

But a decision isn’t expected until next week at the earliest, according to The Times.

The latest infection rates for European hotspots are as follows:

Spain – 90.3 (cases per 100,000)

Romania – 85.7

Malta – 63.0

Belgium – 61.7

Netherlands – 34.6

France – 29.4

Portugal – 24.6.

Poland – 23.7

UK – 17.1

Greece – 14.2

Germany – 13.3

Italy – 7.5

Read more

Spain wrestles with 14 new Covid-19 outbreaks with majority in Malaga

Second wave fears as New Zealand sees new case after 102 days- LIVE