Corona figures are currently on the rise again worldwide. This is also the case in France. The incidence has risen sharply in recent days to over 200 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days. France is the only country in Europe that has now been exempted from the quarantine obligation for EU travelers to England. Even those who have been vaccinated must continue to be quarantined after entering the country.

Within the last 24 hours, France reported a total of 27,923 new infections. The incidence thus climbed to 211.6 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days, reports corona-inzahlen.de. In terms of newly reported cases, only Spain and Turkey have nearly as many corona cases in Europe, with 27,149 and 22,291 cases, respectively. However, looking at incidence, France is only in seventh place - behind Spain and the UK.

Despite this, France was the only country in Europe exempted from lifting the quarantine requirement in England. According to france24.com, the British government cited the accumulation of cases with the beta variantof the coronavirus, which is considered more resistant to vaccination, as the reason.

The French government expressed confusion in light of the exemption rule for French nationals. After all, most beta cases would come from the overseas island of La Reunion in the Indian Ocean. Clement Beaune, minister for European affairs, finds the measure "discriminatory." A deputy from President Emmanuel Macron's ruling party called the British decision "absurd."

Accordingly, Clement Beaune hopes that the British government will reconsider this step and that French people will also be able to enter England without quarantine from now on. After all, there is no scientific basis for this decision, Beaune said.

France is "not yet planning" any retaliatory measures, the france24.com report said. The British government announced it would not discuss the measure again until the end of next week.

Photo by Yassine Khalfalli