Morocco Added to France’s COVID Red List, Stricter Checks at Montpellier Airport

There were a total of 160 passengers who had boarded at Fez airport. Arrived at Montpellier Méditerranée airport, a welcoming committee with the prefect at its head was waiting for them in the disembarkation hall. "With Algeria, Morocco joined Tunisia on Saturday, among the countries placed on the red list by France, classified as countries where the virus is circulating quite actively with worrying variants, with a surge in contamination for several weeks," notes Prefect Hugues Moutouh.

According to an officer of the Sdis 34, a firefighter, "unvaccinated people coming from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia can no longer enter France, except for compelling reasons, with mandatory vaccination: for the unvaccinated, they must undergo an antigen test, as well as a mandatory and controlled ten-day quarantine," he explains. Passengers tested negative must respect ten days of quarantine. In case of a positive test, a prefectural order requires them to isolate themselves for ten days, under the control of the police services.

The situation does not delight the travelers. This is the case of Kader, a young man of about thirty, who has to undergo an antigen test. "It’s unpleasant for a few seconds, but no pain felt." Twenty minutes later, he leaves relieved with the document attesting that he is negative for Covid-19. The prefect, who handed out a few negative results, is pleased with the low positivity rate. "In some countries, self-tests are used for travel, but they are not recognized as sufficiently reliable in France," reveals Hugues Moutouh.

Colonel Sylvain Besson, with figures in hand, affirms that "the positivity rate is low", stressing that the situation is not for the moment as alarming. He hopes that it will be the same for each flight from the countries on the red list of France.