Unvaccinated travellers from the UK arriving on the Eurostar will now have to take a Covid test on arrival in France, the Paris police chief has announced.
The Paris Préfecture de Police announced that “in accordance with government instructions, police have put in place, from Monday November 1st, a system of Covid testing for unvaccinated arrivals from the UK at Gare du Nord.”
The UK is on France’s orange list, which means that travel for unvaccinated people is already strictly limited – only those who have French citizenship, are permanent residents in France or are travelling for an essential reason are allowed in to France.
Vaccinated people can travel from the UK to France for any reason.
Unvaccinated arrivals who fit the travel criteria must also present a negative Covid test before boarding transport to France, but following the police announcement travellers on the Eurostar must also take a test on arrival at Gare du Nord. The Local has asked whether this rule is likely to be extended to arrivals from the UK by plane, ferry or car.
France’s travel rules had previously contained provision for tests on arrival for unvaccinated travellers, but this has not been systematically applied until now.
The police statement added: “Faced with the recent resurgence of the epidemic in the UK, in particular the Delta variant AY.4.2, the police, in accordance with government instructions, have put in place from Monday, November 1st a testing system specific to Gare du Nord.”
Passengers are already required to show proof of vaccination upon boarding the Eurostar in London, for fully vaccinated passengers nothing changes, but unvaccinated travellers will now be directed upon arrival in Paris to a dedicated testing centre set up within the station.
Those who test positive will be subject to a 10-day quarantine.
The police statement did not mention payment for the tests, but visitors and unvaccinated residents in France usually have to pay for travel tests or ‘convenience’ tests.
The price of tests are capped by the government at €44 for a PCR test and €22 for an antigen test. Arrival testing is usually antigen tests so that travellers can receive their results on the spot.
The UK has for several weeks been reporting a huge surge in Covid cases, with a daily average of around 45,000 cases. France’s cases are much lower at around 5,000 per day, but have seen an increase in recent days.
SOURCE : Thelocal
