The French government is relaxing entry conditions for travelers coming from the U.K., Tourism Minister Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne announced Thursday.
Starting on Friday, travelers will be able to come to France for nonessential reasons like tourism and won’t have to self-isolate upon arrival.
A negative coronavirus test that is not older than 24 hours will still be required at departure, Lemoyne said on Twitter.
France had shut down its border in mid-December for tourists coming from the U.K. in a bid to delay the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant. But Omicron has been the dominant variant in France for the past two weeks, undermining the initial reason for the tight restrictions.
As of January 11, France faced 4,206 new cases per million people each day (on the basis of a weekly average) while the U.K. counted 2,295 cases per million people every day.