France mentioned Thursday that it will ban non-essential travel to and from Britain in a bid to maintain the Omicron Covid-19 variant in test, as European leaders urged coordinated motion and extra booster pictures to counter the extra extremely contagious menace.
Countries worldwide have begun advising in opposition to overseas travel whereas ramping up home restrictions to battle Omicron, despite the fact that scientists stay unsure how harmful it’s.
Britain has seen case ranges explode in latest weeks to report ranges amid fears the variant might overwhelm hospitals in the course of the dinners and events for the year-end holidays.
Starting at midnight Saturday (2300 GMT Friday), the French authorities mentioned, travellers will want “an essential reason to travel to, or come from, the UK, both for the unvaccinated and vaccinated… People cannot travel for touristic or professional reasons.”
It added that French residents and EU nationals might nonetheless return to France from the UK, however they are going to now want a detrimental Covid take a look at lower than 24 hours previous, and a blanket quarantine shall be enforced upon their return.
The Spanish authorities mentioned in the meantime that boosters would quickly be obtainable for everybody aged 40 and older, down from 65 and older at the moment.
EU drug regulators on Thursday additionally authorized Pfizer’s Covid tablet for emergency use by member states battling the brand new coronavirus wave.
– ‘Tightening the net’ –
In France, the “drastic” new limits on travel to Britain goal to give the nation time to give 20 million booster jabs by Christmas — and the nation could quickly open up vaccinations to youngsters aged 5 to 11.
“People (coming back) will have to register on an app and will have to self-isolate in a place of their choosing for seven days — controlled by the security forces — but this can be shortened to 48 hours if a negative test is carried out in France,” authorities spokesman Gabriel Attal mentioned.
Britain on Thursday recorded a report 88,376 laboratory-confirmed Covid circumstances, with scientists predicting even larger charges as Omicron is believed to unfold a lot quicker than the at the moment dominant Delta variant.
“It’s down to individual countries to decide their approach,” a spokesman for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson mentioned in response to the French restrictions.
“We’ve maintained that travel abroad will be different this year and that countries may impose border measures at short notice,” he added.
At the Eurostar terminal at St Pancras station in London, many passengers have been scrambling to change tickets to arrive in Paris earlier than Saturday and go the vacations with household.
“I have friends who are panicking,” mentioned Marie Geoffroy, a 43-year-old who lives in London who was about to board.
“These last-minute changes are stressful, it feels like you’ve been taken hostage,” she mentioned.
– ‘Fear the worst’ –
The French transfer comes after Canada urged its residents to keep away from overseas travel over the Christmas holidays, with Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos saying the Omicron variant “makes us fear the worst.”
South Korea mentioned it will reimpose coronavirus curfews on eating places, cinemas and different companies and restrict the dimensions of gatherings once more within the face of report an infection ranges.
New York’s Metropolitan Opera, in the meantime, introduced that it’s going to require Covid booster pictures from all its musicians and different staff — some 3,000 folks — in addition to anybody attending a efficiency.
The Omicron danger additionally elbowed its manner into an EU summit assembly in Brussels on Thursday, with predictions the variant might turn into dominant within the bloc as quickly as subsequent month.
But leaders are struggling to forge a united method to cease the unfold, after a number of international locations imposed emergency measures in latest days.
Omicron is “of significant concern obviously, in terms of the capacity of that variant to spread rapidly and create pressure on our societies and our health systems,” Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin advised journalists in Brussels.
“So today we’ll be looking for greater coordination on a number of fronts,” he mentioned.
by Stuart WILLIAMS and Joseph SCHMID
