France moved into Group A

Tuesday 18 August 2020

A spike in Covid-19 cases in France has led to the country being categorised as a 'Group A' jurisdiction in Public Health's updated list - meaning anyone travelling from there will have to self-isolate for 14 days.

The country started out in Group B when the States revealed its first category list on 5 August, making travellers eligible for seven-day testing under the rules that came into effect yesterday.

In practice, France's Group B status that was short-lived, and any travellers will now have to self-isolate for 14 days again with immediate effect.

Note change in relation to France with immediate effect - and changes to other watch list. This remains a dynamic situation and travellers need to keep an eye. https://t.co/FddztAag34

— Gavin St Pier #MoveForwardTogether #GsyPartnership (@gavinstpier) August 18, 2020

St Malo and Brittany were placed on the original watch list, before the rest of the country followed suit last week. As of this afternoon, they have crossed the boundary into Group A. 

"Again, we are emphasising that countries on the Group B watchlist are likely to move to Group A at extremely short notice, and anyone planning travel should look at this list and consider carefully any travel to countries included on it," said a spokesman for the States. 

France's corona virus cases spiked last week, reaching new highs of over 3,300 new cases on Saturday and another 3,000 new cases on Sunday. 

The country reached an infection rate of 34 cases per 100,000 people and new measures have been introduced this week to help combat the spread of the virus, such as the mandatory wearing of masks in the workplace from 1 September. 

With immediate effect, France moves to the A group. https://t.co/REfYwzN04Y

— Rhian Tooley #moveforwardtogether (@RhianGsy) August 18, 2020

Public Health Dr Nicola Brink has explained the factors that go into deciding what Group a country or region should fall into - for example, a jurisdiction with more than 30 cases per 100,000 will automatically fall into Group A. 

The countries currently on the Group B watch list are Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, French Polynesia, Guyana, Iceland and Switzerland.

At one point, Iceland was mooted as a possible air bridge destination, before the nordic country experienced a significant and sharp increase in cases. 

Pictured top: St Malo Harbour.