On Saturday, tourists and the tourism industry vented their frustration and anger United Kingdom The plan to relax travel restrictions on France was cancelled two days after the start of the plan, citing concerns about variants of the coronavirus.
Although France’s current viral infection rate is lower than that of the United Kingdom, this measure has been taken. The highly infectious delta mutation in the United Kingdom is driving a surge in infections. On Saturday, Health Minister Sajid Javid, who is in charge of the UK’s coronavirus response, said that he tested positive for COVID-19 and is in self-isolation awaiting the results of the second test.
Javid said in a video message that he has been vaccinated twice, “So far, my symptoms are very mild.”
With the spread of COVID-19 variants, France is considering stricter restrictions on British tourists
Javid succeeded Matt Hancock last month, who resigned for violating social distancing regulations. Hancock contracted COVID-19 at the beginning of the pandemic last year, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson spent a few days in the intensive care unit in April 2020.
The current COVID-19 infection rate in the UK is higher than in France, with more than 51,000 new infections confirmed on Friday, the highest number in six months. The number of hospitalizations and deaths is also on the rise, but still far below the previous peak of infections.
Despite the surge in cases, England will remove the remaining restrictions on Monday, even though the government advises people to be cautious and continue to maintain social distancing. London’s buses and subways and some other transportation networks will still need to wear masks.
In an announcement late Friday, the British government stated that people arriving from France must self-isolate for 10 days after entering the UK, even if they have been fully vaccinated. A few days ago, the government stated that dozens of British residents who were classified as “amber” or medium-sized countries by the British coronavirus risk traffic light system would no longer face quarantine from Monday. The amber list includes the United States, Canada and most of Europe.
The British health authorities said that France was singled out because of the beta variant case originally found in South Africa, which is believed to be more resistant to vaccines than other virus strains. The Beta variant accounts for approximately 10% of French cases, but is much lower than 1% of British cases. In these two countries, the delta variant first discovered in India dominates.
Epidemiologist John Edmunds, a member of the British Government’s Scientific Advisory Group, said that there is sufficient evidence that β “can more effectively escape the immune response generated by the AstraZeneca vaccine.”
The AstraZeneca vaccine has been used for most British vaccinations.
Before the pandemic, more than 17 million British residents visited France every year. Gemma Antrobus of the Independent Travel Agency Association said Friday’s announcement surprised the tourism industry.
Europe is open to travel.But tourists must understand the COVID-19 rules of each country/region
“No one expected this to happen,” she told the BBC. “Therefore, the tourism industry is as shocked as today’s consumers. In fact, we just need to clean up the mess and deal with it and help our customers through this very bad situation.”
The British nurse Georgina Thomas visited her parents in western France. She said she was “disheartened by the inconsistent government practices. This does not seem logical.”
She said: “If isolation is necessary, so be it, but I believe that when I return to the UK, my risk will be higher.”
The government stated that it is possible to relax restrictions because nearly 90% of British adults have received one dose of the vaccine and more than two-thirds have received two doses. Health authorities say that the vaccines used in the UK — made by AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna — provide strong protection against serious illness and death after two doses, although they cannot prevent all infections.
Former British Minister of Health and Conservative Party MP Jeremy Hunt said that the number of hospitalizations is increasing and the warning light that health services are under pressure is “blinking red.”
“I think entering September, we will almost certainly see the number of infections reach a new daily peak, exceeding the daily level of 68,000, which is the previous day’s record in January,” he told the BBC. “If they are still rising as the school returns, I think we will have to reconsider some very difficult decisions.”
© 2021 Canadian Press
