Covid-19: Paris authorizes returns from the United Kingdom, on condition

French nationals stranded in the UK will be able to return home for Christmas. Matignon announced on Tuesday, December 22 that returns would be authorized from Wednesday under certain conditions. The French, or any other person residing in France or in the European area, as well as those who must “make essential trips” (for work or other pressing reasons) will have to present a negative Covid test. The people concerned will be “systematically subject to the obligation to have, before departure, the result of a negative test (for Covid-19) of less than 72 hours”, either PCR or antigen, provided that it is sensitive to the new variant identified across the Channel, also said Matignon.

“We have worked relentlessly with our counterparts and the British authorities (…) to allow from tomorrow morning both boats, obviously trains and Eurostars, and also planes, to be able to restart safely” , specified the Minister of Transport Jean-Baptiste Djebbari. “We are trying to make a sanitary safe, limited, supervised opening that we monitor over time,” said a government source.

Regarding people, Matignon has drawn up a list of those who can benefit from an exemption to enter French territory: in addition to nationals and habitual residents, third-country nationals holding a residence permit or a valid French or European long-stay visa having its main residence in France or which reaches its main residence in a country of the European Union in transit through France, as well as third-country nationals in transit less than 24 hours in international zone.

The reopening of the port of Dover

The British Ministry of Transport said Tuesday evening that “all truck drivers, regardless of their nationality, will have to undergo” screening (antigen) delivering a result in about 30 minutes to be able to cross the Channel to France. This negative test in hand, the truckers will be able to pass with their goods. But if they are positive, they will have to stay ten days on British soil, the French Ministry of Transport added.

Neither Paris nor London, however, did not specify what will be able to do, once passed in France, the truckers from countries which keep their borders closed with the United Kingdom. The English port of Dover announced its reopening on Tuesday evening, from 11 p.m. GMT, for outgoing traffic to France following an agreement between Paris and London.

Then, Wednesday, during the night, the port of Calais resumed activity. Indeed, for the first time since Sunday, vehicles with passengers disembarked at the port of Calais from Dover. The traffic should not start to increase in the direction of the returns until the end of the morning, had indicated to Agence France-Presse the management of the port on the evening of Tuesday.

A coordinated European response

The European Commission had recommended Tuesday to EU member states to facilitate the resumption of trafficking with the United Kingdom whose isolation, linked to the discovery on its territory of a variant of the coronavirus, sowed chaos in its relations with the continent. Since midnight Sunday, France, like many European countries including Germany and the Netherlands, had suspended the movement of people and goods from the United Kingdom for 48 hours.

The disruption in traffic caused a major disruption in freight transport a few days before Christmas, blocking dozens of heavy goods vehicles at the port of Dover in Kent on the south coast of England, transformed into a giant car park and near which traffic jams with trucks stretch for miles. The French and British governments have also asked drivers to avoid going to Kent until further notice, so as not to aggravate the chaos, while testing centers are set up.