The French health ministry says the man arrived in France from London on December 19 and was asymptomatic.
Health authorities in France have confirmed that the country’s first case of the coronavirus variant triggered strict lockout measures in the UK and global travel restrictions.
The French health ministry said a Frenchman who arrived in France from the British capital, London, on December 19 had been positive for the new variant on Friday.
He had no symptoms and was alone in his home in downtown Tours.
Authorities have conducted a communications survey for the health professionals who are caring for the patient, the ministry said. Their acquaintances who were seen as vulnerable would be isolated, he said.
In addition to this first case, there are several other positive models that could “suggest the 202012/01 VOC variant be ordered” by the specialized laboratories of the national Pasteur Institute, the statement said.
Italian authorities have found the new pressure in patients in Rome, and the World Health Organization reported that nine cases have been detected in Denmark and one each in the Netherlands and Australia.
Following the 48-hour snap ban this week, France had reopened its borders to the UK – in part to allow French citizens to return home, as well as relieve the massive build-up of goods. – but they had a verification policy in place.
France’s interior ministry said on Thursday that travel limits from the UK would continue “until at least January 6”.
For now, only French or EU citizens, those with residence rights there or business travelers can make the crossing from the UK – if they can show less negative COVID-19 test the three-day-old.
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock had said on 14 December that a spike in COVID cases in the UK may have been linked to the new version of the virus in the country. Scientists say the new strain could be up to 70 percent more widespread.
Hancock said more than 1,000 cases of the new variant have been identified, particularly in the south-east of England. Before Christmas, the health minister had announced that strict lock-in measures would be extended over other parts of southern England to prevent the spread of the disease.
With over 68,000 deaths from the virus, the UK is one of the toughest countries in Europe.
In the last few days countries around the world have closed their borders to the UK and South Africa after identifying cases of the new, rapidly spreading variant of the coronavirus in those countries. .
France, meanwhile, recorded 20,262 new cases, confirmed COVID-19 and 159 additional associated hospital deaths in the last 24 hours.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in France now stands at 2,547,771 while its COVID-19 death toll has reached 62,427 – the seventh highest in the world.