Tourists in France to find out today if they have to quarantine for 2 weeks when they come back

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HUNDREDS of thousands of British tourists in France will find out TODAY if they need to quarantine when they return after a surge in coronavirus cases.

Ministers are meeting today to decide whether to remove half a dozen countries from quarantine-free travel corridors and France has been labelled “on the brink” of being included.

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Tourists in France could have to quarantine when they return home to the UK

 The French health ministry reported 2,524 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday – the country’s highest level since lockdown.

But pulling France’s quarantine-free status will throw the holiday plans of up to 400,000 Brits into disarray.

And a string of getaway destinations including Malta, Monaco, Holland and Gibraltar are now likely to be added to a list of nations requiring visitors to quarantine for up to two weeks when they return to the UK.

While cases in France are on the up, HOAR understands it’s not yet reached a point where officials feel the need to pull the air bridges.

But there are still fears ministers could insist on quarantine measures by the end of the month.

France’s infection rate over 14 days is 30.3 per 100,000 – lower than the 37 per 100,000 that saw Spain removed from the list of safe nations urgently last month.

A Whitehall source indicated that France had done “just enough” to stay off the list for now.

France’s infection rate has crept up to 30.3 per 100,000

But a travel source said: “The idea of getting people returning from France into quarantine is politically too difficult – that’s why it may stay off for now.

“It would be very unpopular, perhaps more so than Spain, and that maybe that is what is driving Downing Street at the moment.

“There is also a suggestion France would be reciprocal measures, and with the migrant crisis in the Channel another diplomatic row may well be avoided until the end of the summer.”

Health secretary Matt Hancock has previously warned that officials are looking at other countries “all of the time” and that the quarantine list is liable to change quickly.