France To Set Up Random Border Checks To Prevent Travels To Foreign Ski Resorts

Fahad Shabbir (@FahadShabbir) Published December 02, 2020 | 06:20 PM

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd December, 2020) The French government will establish random borders checks and a week-long quarantine to prevent citizens from traveling to ski abroad, thereby increasing the risk of being infected with the coronavirus, French Prime Minister Jean Castex told the BFMTV broadcaster on Wednesday.

On Tuesday French President Emmanuel Macron announced that some restrictive measures would be implemented to prevent nationals from going to ski resorts in border states, particularly, in Switzerland, for the Christmas period, while French ski lifts remain closed.

"We are going to set up a quarantine with the neighboring authorities, there will be random checks at the border. You will be placed in quarantine for seven days and you will undergo tests," Castex said, confirming the president's statement.

He added that such a decision has been made to protect the French while other countries which allowed their winter sports resorts to operate, namely, Spain and Switzerland, are entitled to their own strategies.

Nonetheless France will continue to use diplomatic means to encourage them to change their policies towards the winter sports resorts, the prime minister said.

He also noted that Paris aligned with a decision to keep ski resorts shut with Italy and Germany. The move would significantly decrease the risks of the third coronavirus wave in January, Castex explained, reiterating that the ski resorts in France would remain closed until January 20.

France has seen a considerable decrease in coronavirus infections over the past weeks, as the peak of the second wave was believed to have been reached on November 7, when the single-day record of nearly 87,000 new cases was registered. The government has since put in place a three-stage coronavirus lockdown relief, starting last week.

To date, national health authorities have confirmed 2,275,429 COVID-19 infections, 52,821 related fatalities and 167,915 recoveries.