France makes negative Covid-19 certificate mandatory for travelers from outside EU

The Govt of France on Wednesday announced that it is mandatory for travelers from outside the EU to submit a negative Covid-19 test upon arrival in the country.

This new rule will be applicable to both vaccinated and non-vaccinated travelers starting from Saturday, December 4. This also includes travelers from the United Kingdom, the USA, and Canada.

The test must have been taken within 48 hours of departure for France. The decree states that only tests “that are able to detect protein N of Sars-Cov2” can be used – this covers all PCR tests but not all antigen tests.

At present, there is no requirement for the Covid-19 test for vaccinated travelers arriving from a country within the EU. However, non-vaccinated travelers from another EU country must now provide a negative Covid test taken within the last 24 hours.

“The health situation is deteriorating rapidly,” said government spokesperson Gabriel Attal in a press conference following a ministers’ meeting this morning.

Speaking on the situation in Southern Africa which has been particularly affected by the Omicron “variant of concern”, Attal said that flights will resume between France and seven southern African countries on Saturday, but with severe restrictions for passengers.

These countries will be the first to be classified under a new traffic-light travel category: “scarlet red.”

Arrivals from an EU county or Switzerland, Andorra, Iceland, Lichtenstein, Monaca, Norway or San Marino only need to take a test if they are not vaccinated. Unvaccinated arrivals will need a negative test, taken within the previous 24 hours.