France’s border with UK to stay closed to contain Covid-19 variant: PM

Paris, Jan 8 : France would keep its border with Britain closed to contain a highly contagious new coronavirus strain after 19 cases of the mutated virus were detected at home, Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Thursday.
“On December 20, we closed (our) border with the United Kingdom. This measure will be extended until further notice,” Castex said at a weekly press conference on the sanitary situation.
Only certain categories of people would be allowed to enter French territory provided that they show a negative test, he added.
Speaking at the same meeting, Health Minister Olivier Veran confirmed that 19 infections with the coronavirus variant first reported in the UK have been detected so far in France, including two cases identified in worrying clusters in Ile-de France and Brittany, the Xinhua news agency reported.
Three other cases of the new Covid-19 strain first found in South Africa were also detected, he added.
“We want to avoid at all cost the spread of these variants in France. We take the threat of these two variants very seriously and we’ll take all necessary measures,” he noted.