France on Wednesday added Russia to its list of nations from which non-essential travel is banned, as concern grows over a spike of cases in Moscow due to the Delta variant.
Namibia and Seychelles are also being added to the “red” list, government spokesman Gabriel Attal informed reporters.
Russia, and especially Moscow, have been hard hit by the highly infectious Delta variant first identified in India in recent weeks, a problem compounded by slow take-up of vaccines even though the nation has produced its own jabs.
As it seeks to stop the spread of potentially dangerous variants within the face of an increasingly successful vaccination program, France has divided the world into green, orange, and red nations for travel.
There are now no restrictions for vaccinated travelers coming from green nations, which include all the EU as well as a handful of other nations including Australia and the United States.
Most other nations are defined as orange, from where travel is allowed if a traveler is vaccinated and presents a negative Covid test on arrival.
Travel from red list nations – which already included Brazil, India, and South Africa – is only allowed on pressing grounds, and even then vaccinated travelers must self-isolate for seven days.
There has been concern over the rise of Delta variant cases within the U.K.
The recent spike in cases there has been far less drastic than in Russia against the background of the rapid vaccination rollout within the UK, where 82% of adults have had at least one jab.
Still, hospitalizations and the numbers of patients on mechanical ventilators, whereas well down from their peak, have crept up in the latest weeks. There were 227 individuals requiring to assist breathing on June 21, up from 120 a month earlier, NHS knowledge present.
Asked if France was considering including the U.K. on its red list, Attal mentioned: “We adapt our rules according to the event of the threat. If measures need to be taken for other nations, then we’ll take them. However, at this stage, I’ve no information to communicate.”