France To Introduce Stricter Testing Over ‘English Variant’ Fears

France To Introduce Stricter Testing Over 'English Variant' Fears

Roubaix has been hit hard by the pandemic and is now testing people for the variant found in the UK. image: Pixabay

France To Introduce Stricter Testing on Monday Over ‘English Variant’ Fears.

France will introduce new much stricter controls from Monday, January 18, for anyone entering the country from outside the EU, including carriers from the UK. Prime Minister Jean Castex has stated that a PCR test with a negative result must be produced before entering France.

The insistence on PCR testing, rather than the much faster, but potentially less accurate, lateral flow tests that are provided to carriers by the UK government, could lead to more delays and queues at ports of call. the Channel.

There is a real feeling of anxiety in the north of France- the city of Roubaix being ​​at the heart of an intensive program, aims to test as much of the local population as possible, over a week. A test is a familiar check to see if a person is positive or not. But the second is a little more in-depth; results take hours rather than minutes.

This is to establish the presence of the new variant of coronavirus, which emerged in the UK and is now seeping into mainland Europe. In France, as in many European countries, it is known as the British or English variant.

Clusters have quickly appeared all over France, but, as reported, have also started to emerge in many other countries- even as far away as the Amazon rain forest.

Spain, for example, has now seen people testing positive for the variant, even though they originally had no connection to the UK. It was later discovered that the new virus was bought in by a group of British travellers landing in Madrid Barajas Airport. Since then, other cases have been registered in the country, Elche in Northern Spain and down south in the Costa del Sol, including Gibraltar.


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Tony Winterburn

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