British tourists banned from France from this weekend due to Omicron

FRANCE will ban all non-essential travel to and from Britain from this weekend.

The new rule is being brought in to slow the spread of the Omicron Covid-19 variant that is causing record numbers of cases in the UK, the French government said.

From midnight on Saturday (11pm Friday UK time) there will be a "requirement to have an essential reason to travel to, or come from, the UK, both for the unvaccinated and vaccinated".

"People cannot travel for touristic or professional reasons," the French government said in a statement.

"Faced with the extremely rapid spread of the Omicron variant in the UK, the government has chosen to reinstate the need for an essential reason for travel from and to the UK."

It added that French citizens and EU nationals could still return to France from the UK, and passengers will be able to transit through France if for less than 24 hours.

And Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said he had spoken to his equivalent in the French government, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, and agreed that hauliers will be exempt from the new restrictions.

French government spokesman Gabriel Attal told BFMTV channel: "We will put in place a system of controls drastically tighter than the one we have already."

Attal said the policy was aimed at "tightening the net" to slow down the arrival of Omicron cases in France and give time for the French vaccination booster campaign to make more ground.

"Our strategy is to delay as much as we can the development of Omicron in our country and take advantage to push ahead with the booster drive," he said.

In addition, returning travellers will need a negative test less than 24 hours old, and a blanket quarantine would be enforced on return to France.

"People (coming back) will have to register on an app and will have to self-isolate in a place of their choosing for seven days - controlled by the security forces - but this can be shortened to 48 hours if a negative test is carried out in France," he said.

The new rules from France come as coronavirus infections in the UK hit 78,610 confirmed cases yesterday — up more than 10,000 on January’s peak.

Omicron infections also nearly doubled overnight, leaping from 5,346 to 10,017.

People were last night urged to cut down on drinking with pals and colleagues if they want to see their family at Christmas.

After the restrictions were announced, health minister Gillian Keegan told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "My first thought is 'I'm glad that I cancelled my trip to France', because that's where I was supposed to go for Christmas.

"But, of course, every government is dealing with Omicron, every government has to make their decisions and has their response to it, you know.

"It is obviously going to alter people's plans, which is very unfortunate."

Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency, added: "Blanket country measures are a damaging backwards step and never work.

"Omicron is already in France and other EU countries. Why should the millions boosted be treated the same way as those unvaccinated, and prevented from entry?"

And ABTA chief executive, Mark Tanzer, said: "Reports that France is to introduce a temporary ban on most travel from the UK will come as a hammer blow to the winter travel industry, which is already under extreme pressure following the new Omicron restrictions.

"The winter sports and school travel markets are particularly exposed, and the Government must now bring forward a support package if we are not to see company failures and job losses."