France 'on the brink' of being placed on travel quarantine list

France was “on the brink” of being removed from quarantine-free travel on Wednesday evening, as ministers met to finalise its status. The Government’s 'Covid Cabinet', chaired by Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove, met on Wednesday to discuss implementing a mandatory 14-day quarantine on travellers arriving from the country. Sources said the decision was on a “knife edge” after a week of fluctuating cases. On Wednesday, the French health ministry reported 2,524 new coronavirus infections for the previous 24 hours, the country’s highest level since lockdown began. Since Monday new cases have come close to doubling in France every day. One travel industry source said the latest data from France was “very damaging” but insisted the decision was still “a close-run thing”. A UK Government source said data for France was being kept under “constant review” and a decision is expected to be formally made on Thursday. Meanwhile, pressure mounted on the Government to strike Malta from its “green list” of quarantine-free countries, as Norway and Belgium imposed new restrictions on the island nation. Malta has seen a steep increase in coronavirus infection figures in the past two weeks, and on Tuesday registered 440 new cases.

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