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Denver – A new change to French legislation now requires the testing of any unvaccinated travellers from Morocco entering the port of Sete.
Testing began Tuesday morning, upon the arrival of a ferry from Morocco carrying over 1,300 passengers. Although there is still a wait time for vaccinated passengers due to border procedures, unvaccinated passengers were required to remain on the vessel until officials could conduct the antigen test, one person at a time.
French firefighters and the French Rescue and First Aid Federation were both responsible for administering the tests.
Those with positive tests are to be quarantined within their homes for a minimum of ten days, in accordance with French regulations. Currently, Sete remains the only open port for travellers to enter. This has increased the risk of infection for the city, as well as the department of Herault. To ensure proper procedures, the prefect of Herault, Hugues Moutouh, was present for the first day of testing at the port.
Moutouh commented that “a majority of people” that passed through the port on Tuesday were vaccinated. However, with passengers coming “from all over Europe,” as well as other locations such as Morocco, the French are remaining vigilant in their efforts to curb the spread of COVID within their border.
Defending the new policy, Moutouh asserted that the regional government wanted all citizens to return to the country, “even with a few hours of waiting.” While some showed signs of impatience due to the long wait periods, the testing appears to have gone smoothly, and most passengers disembarked within a few hours.
The new French policy comes as COVID-19 cases spike once again within the country. France reached a low in late June, with 1,816 new cases within a seven-day reporting period, according to public health data. Since then, numbers have risen dramatically, the latest August numbers showing nearly 24,000 new cases across a seven-day period.
