Only a week after France introduced an entry ban on travelers from outside the EU attempting to enter France for non-essential purposes on January 31, the number of air passengers has halved, with 700 passengers being turned away for failing to justify their journey.
In an interview for news channel LCI, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, a junior minister within the French government stated that the new measures had already had their effect with 50 percent fewer arrivals within the EU in comparison with the week before the new measures became effective.
“This is bringing results, with passenger numbers halved compared with the previous week,” pointing out that the same measures will stay effective till at least the end of this month.
At the same time, more than 700 passengers have been refused boarding after they couldn’t show their purpose of entry to France.
The current measures were first introduced by the French Prime Minister Jean Castex from the Elysée Palace on January 29, upon a meeting with the Defence and National Security Council on COVID-19.
Highlighting the vital COVID-19 situation in France, the Pm had noted that because of the spread of the so-called British and South African COVID-19 variants, additional restrictions would be imposed on the curfew measures.
Thus, since the very first minutes of Sunday, January 31, France banned from getting into its territory any travelers from outside the EU attempting to enter the nation for purposes that are not considered as absolutely essential by the French authorities.
The government has, however, resisted calls from health experts to impose a 3rd nationwide lockdown, aiming to prevent the number of infections from rising through a night curfew, curbs on leisure activities, and tougher rules on overseas arrivals.
Whereas, on January 25, France has also made the requirement of PCR test results obligatory for all arrivals, including these coming from fellow EU nations.
Because of the beginning of the pandemic, up to now, France has marked 3,360,235 Coronavirus cases, 80,147 of which have resulted in demise, and another 3,044,371 are still active.
