London, Europe Brief News – UK vaccinated travellers no longer need a negative Covid test to enter France.
The relaxed rules came into force last Saturday after an announcement from Prime Minister Jean Castex.
France also announced it would soon drop its requirement of a negative Covid test for vaccinated travellers from outside the EU.
The decision came as daily infection numbers continue to fall.
“We again required tests in December over the Omicron variant. In the coming days we will announce that tests are no longer needed for vaccinated people,” Europe minister Clément Beaune told France 2 television on Tuesday.
Currently, anyone visiting France from outside the EU, including the UK, has to show a negative test result from the previous 48 hours, regardless of vaccination status.
“This week there will probably be a new European protocol for vaccinated people arriving from outside the EU,” Beaune added.
Half of Europe to catch Omicron
The World Health Organization (WHO) has earlier said that half of Europe will catch Omicron.
WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge said a “west-to-east tidal wave” of Omicron was sweeping across the region. The Delta variant is on top of a surge, he added.
The projection was based on the seven million new cases reported across Europe in the first week of 2022.
The number of infections has more than doubled in a two-week period.
“Today the Omicron variant represents a new west-to-east tidal wave, sweeping across the region on top of the Delta surge that all countries were managing until late 2021,” Dr Kluge told a news conference.
He quoted the Seattle-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation as forecasting that “more than 50 percent of the population in the region will test positive for Omicron in the next six to eight weeks”.
The WHO has earlier warned of ‘tsunami’ of COVID cases in the near future. The declaration was due to Omicron spread.
