By Dominique Vidalon

PARIS, (Reuters) – France will tighten controls on travelers arriving from Britain in the wake of a dramatic rise in Omicron coronavirus-related infections. This was announced by the French government on Thursday.

This includes reducing the validity time of antigen and PCR testing to 24 hours, instead of 48 hours for travellers arriving in Britain. It also limits travel opportunities from Britain to France.

Gabriel Attal, a government spokesperson told BFM TV that they are going to implement a control …. even more severe than the current one.

He said that the French government will limit business and tourist travel to French-speaking peoples who aren’t French nationals or Europeans.

British tourists arriving in France from Britain will need to be self-isolated for 7 days. However, if they fail a French test, their isolation will be lifted 48 hours later.

These restrictions have been in effect until now for non-vaccinated British travellers.

Attal stated that “our goal is to limit the spread of Omicron throughout our territory,” adding that there are currently 240 Omicron confirmed cases in France.

On Wednesday, the latest data showed that new COVID-19 infection in the United Kingdom was at its highest level daily since early 2020 when the pandemic began. There were more than 78,000 cases.

France has reported that 65713 people contracted coronavirus infection in France over the past 24 hours. That brings total numbers of cases to 8.4million since the beginning of the epidemic. The total number of deaths in France due to the epidemic has reached 120,983.