The UK is also facing strong opposition to its decision to exclude France from its new loose entry policy-unlike other “amber” countries, residents returning to the UK who have been vaccinated still need to be quarantined for 10 days.
“I am a doctor, so I understand health issues very well, but it doesn’t make any sense,” said Maud Lemoine, a London doctor who is visiting France.
The French government announced that unvaccinated tourists from the United Kingdom and several other European countries must take a negative Covid test within 24 hours before departure, instead of taking a negative test within 48 or 72 hours as before, which caused anger.
The Ministry of the Interior said that on Saturday, nearly 114,000 demonstrators gathered across France to protest the government’s handling of the epidemic and continued restrictions on daily life.
Rita, a 39-year-old nursing assistant, said in a parade in Montpellier: “It’s not that we think the earth is flat, but that we don’t know the long-term effects of these hurriedly patched vaccines.”
Elsewhere in Europe, Greek officials imposed a curfew on Mykonos, and Spanish authorities have adopted the same measures in Barcelona and other cities in northeastern Catalonia.
