Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said on Thursday that his government will be “absolutely ruthless” over adding all travellers from France to the mandatory two-week quarantine list.
This comes as France has seen a persistent surge in coronavirus cases in the country according to latest data.
Thousands of British holidaymakers who are already in the country could be affected upon their return back to England, forcing them to self-isolate and not being able to return back to work.
On Wednesday French health officials recorded 2,524 confirmed coronavirus infections, which is the highest since the first lockdown restrictions were originally imposed.
Some 13m Brits visited France during 2017 and the UK attracts around 3.5m French visitors annually.
Speaking while on a visit to Northern Ireland Johnson said, “We have got to be absolutely ruthless about this, even with our closest and dearest friends and partners.
“I think everybody understands that.
“We will be looking at the data a bit later on this afternoon, looking exactly where France and other countries are getting to.
“We can’t be remotely complacent about our own situation.
“Everybody understands that in a pandemic you don’t allow our population to be reinfected or the disease to come back in.
“That is why the quarantine measures are very important and we have to apply them in a very strict way.”
A Downing Street spokesperson confirmed, “The leaders discussed the importance of working together as neighbours to defeat coronavirus, including through close collaboration between Ireland, the UK government and the Northern Irish Executive.”
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