France to quarantine arrivals from four countries due to COVID-19 variant concerns

France will impose a 10-day quarantine on arrivals from Argentina, Brazil, Chile and South Africa over concerns about variants of the coronavirus, the prime minister’s office announced Saturday.

Although flights from Argentina, Chile and South Africa will not be suspended, all arrivals from those countries will have to submit to the quarantine or face fines.

Flights from Brazil were suspended until at least next Friday because of concern about the P1 variant of the coronavirus, which is more contagious than the original strain and can also re-infect those who have had the original virus.

Justifying the decision not to ban flights from the other three countries, Paris said that those variants had not reached the levels observed in Brazil.

The new quarantine measures will be gradually introduced over the coming days until they are fully enforced by next Saturday.

The new measures will also restrict arrivals from the named countries, mainly to French and their families as well as other EU nationals and others who are French residents.

Arrivals from French Guyane and the Antilles will also be subjected to tests before and after their flights, said the statement.

France has recently tightened restrictions in its fight against the third wave of the coronavirus, imposing an overnight curfew, closing non-essential shops and restricting travel inside the country.