France tightens testing rules as British tourists rage at UK’s ‘chaotic’ quarantine U-turn
People arriving in England from France will still have to quarantine for 10 days on their return – even if they have received both doses of the coronavirus vaccine, the government has announced.
From Monday, those who have had two COVID vaccine doses will no longer have to isolate after travelling back from countries on the so-called amber list.
However, the Department of Health and Social Care announced on Friday evening that – although still on the amber list – the new rule will not apply to those returning from France due to a large number of cases of the Beta variant, first identified in South Africa.
France will however still remain on the amber list, meaning that those returning can quarantine at home and will not be forced to mandatory hotel isolation
It means all those making their way back to England from France must continue to quarantine for ten days despite the rule change which comes into force on Monday.
They must also complete a coronavirus test on the second and eighth day after their return, irrespective of vaccine status.
The option of test and release from isolation after five days with a negative coronavirus result will remain in place for travellers from France, the government said.
Live COVID updates from the UK and around the world
“From Monday 19 July, UK residents arriving from amber countries who are fully vaccinated will no longer have to quarantine, although they will still need to comply with necessary testing requirements,” the department said.
“However, this will not apply to France following the persistent presence of cases in France of the Beta variant, which was first identified in South Africa.
“Anyone who has been in France in the last ten days will need to quarantine on arrival to England in their own accommodation and will need a day 2 and day 8 test, regardless of their vaccination status.
“This includes any fully vaccinated individual who transits through France from either a green or another amber country to reach England.
As a popular holiday destination for Britons, the news will come as a blow to many who were looking to make a trip this summer
“The Test to Release scheme remains an option for travellers to shorten their quarantine period should they test negative after day 5.”
While current cases of the Beta coronavirus variant in France are not high enough to mandate putting France on to the red list and enforcing a ten-day mandatory hotel quarantine period for all returning travellers, the risk of transmission must be considered, the department added.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the government’s priority is “to protect public health” in the UK.
“Travel will be different this year and whilst we are committed to continuing to open up international travel safely, our absolute priority is to protect public health here in the UK,” he said.
“We urge everyone thinking about going abroad this summer to check their terms and conditions as well as the travel restrictions abroad before they go.”
And newly appointed Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the government has been clear they “will not hesitate to take rapid action” if necessary.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the government has been clear it will take action if necessary to protect the gains won through the country’s vaccination programme
“We have always been clear that we will not hesitate to take rapid action at our borders to stop the spread of COVID-19 and protect the gains made by our successful vaccination programme,” Mr Javid said.
“With restrictions lifting on Monday across the country, we will do everything we can to ensure international travel is conducted as safely as possible, and protect our borders from the threat of variants.”
And UK Health Security Agency Chief Executive Dr Jenny Harries added: “As we ease restrictions and begin making our way back to a normal life, its more vital than ever that we listen to the data and act decisively when it changes.
“While vaccines are helping us turn the tables against this virus, we need to continue to proceed cautiously. That means maintaining our defences against new variants and protecting our hard won progress through the exceptional vaccination roll out.”
The department also clarified that amber list exemptions for key workers including hauliers will remain in place.
The government said it was introducing new restrictions on travel from France due to the prevalence of the Beta variant of coronavirus in the country
From Monday, a new rule announced by Mr Shapps earlier this month comes in to force, allowing those double-jabbed to skip quarantine when returning from amber list countries – apart from France.
From the same date, the guidance that people should not travel to countries on the amber list will also be removed, allowing people to travel for leisure, business and to see family.
It means getaways to popular holiday hotspots including Spain, Portugal and Greece are much more achievable for many holiday makers this summer.
But Friday’s announcement that France is excluded from this isolation exemption will undoubtedly disgruntle individuals with trips booked to the country in the coming weeks.
And Conservative MP Henry Smith, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Future of Aviation called the move “a real setback to international travel”
“We all expected that the traffic light system would provide much-needed certainty yet our current approach has only delivered confusion which continues to prevent any meaningful recovery for our aviation, travel and tourism sectors,” Mr Smith said in a statement.
“Yet again, a last-minute announcement raises significant questions about whether the traffic light system is fit for purpose in its current form and pushes the UK further behind Europe despite our world-leading vaccination programme.
“We cannot afford to continue with this on-again, off-again approach to international travel, which is leaving consumer confidence in tatters, pushing businesses to the brink and will lead to further job losses.”
The token tied to the crypto gaming giant Immutable surged 15% in the hours after it announced that the US Securities and Exchange Commission closed its investigation into the firm and would take no further action.
The Immutable (IMX) token rose around 15% on March 25 to reach just under $0.74 shortly after the firm announced that the SEC shut its inquiry without any breach of violations, which Immutable said closed “the loop on the Wells notice issued by the SEC last year.”
IMX matched crypto market downtrend
It is the highest price that IMX has reached since March 3, before a broader market decline — driven by prolonged uncertainty over US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and US interest rates — pushed it down to $0.46 on March 11.
At the time of publication, IMX had retraced back to $0.67, according to CoinMarketCap. A move back toward $0.70 would wipe approximately $449,500 in short positions, according to CoinGlass data.
IMX is up 0.34% over the past 30 days. Source: CoinMarketCap
While the token price surged on the positive news, it barely moved when Immutable announced in November it had been issued a Wells notice. However, the broader market was already gaining momentum as Trump’s odds to win the election looked strong in the days before his eventual win on Nov. 5.
Immutable co-founder Robbie Ferguson said in a March 25 X post that the SEC’s dropped investigation was “an enormous win for Web3 gaming.”
“After a year of fighting, this threat to digital ownership rights has finally been put to rest,” Ferguson said.
Related: Crypto influencer Ben ‘Bitboy’ Armstrong arrested in Florida
Among the top gaming crypto tokens by market cap, several have seen an upswing over the past 24 hours. Gala (GALA) is up 2.78%, The Sandbox (SAND) is up 3.78%, FLOKI (FLOKI) is up 1.91%, and Axie Infinity (AXS) is up 1.50%.
IMX hit its all-time high of $9.32 in November 2021 during a major rally in gaming tokens. There’s been speculation about when gaming tokens will experience another significant uptrend, as they’ve historically surged after the broader crypto market moves first.
However, over the past 30 days, the total market cap of gaming tokens has dropped 3.65% to $13.13 billion, while trading volume has taken a bigger hit, falling 33.45% to $1.75 billion.
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This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
North Carolina lawmakers have introduced bills in the House and Senate that could see the state’s treasurer allocate up to 5% of various state retirement funds into cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.
The Investment Modernization Act (House Bill 506), introduced by Representative Brenden Jones on March 24, would create an independent investment authority under the state’s Treasury to determine which digital assets could be suitable for inclusion into the state retirement funds.
An identical bill, the State Investment Modernization Act (Senate Bill 709), was introduced into the state’s Senate on March 25.
The bills define a digital asset as a cryptocurrency, stablecoin, non-fungible token (NFT), or any other asset that is electronic in nature that confers economic, proprietary or access rights.
The North Carolina bills don’t set market cap criteria for digital assets, unlike other crypto bills that are working their way into law at the state level.
Source: Bitcoin Laws
The newly created agency, dubbed the North Carolina Investment Authority, would, however, need to carefully weigh the risk and reward profile of each digital asset and ensure the funds are maintained in a secure custody solution.
Bitcoin legislation tracker Bitcoin Laws noted on X that House Bill 506 wasn’t drafted as a Bitcoin reserve bill as it does not mandate the investment authority to hold Bitcoin (BTC) — or any digital asset — over the long term.
North Carolina wants in on Bitcoin bill race
On March 18, North Carolina senators introduced the Bitcoin Reserve and Investment Act (Senate Bill 327), which calls for the treasurer to allocate up to 10% of public funds specifically into Bitcoin.
The bill — introduced by Republicans Todd Johnson, Brad Overcash and Timothy Moffitt — aims to leverage Bitcoin investment as a “financial innovation strategy” to strengthen North Carolina’s economic standing.
Related: GameStop hints at future Bitcoin purchases following board approval
The treasurer would need to ensure that the Bitcoin is stored in a multi-signature cold storage wallet, and the BTC could only be liquidated during a “severe financial crisis,” with approval from two-thirds of North Carolina’s General Assembly.
The bill would also create a Bitcoin Economic Advisory Board to oversee the reserve’s management.
According to Bitcoin Law, 41 Bitcoin reserve bills have been introduced at the state level in 23 states, and 35 of those 41 bills remain live.
Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a Digital Asset Stockpile, both of which will initially use cryptocurrency forfeited in government criminal cases.
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The US Securities and Exchange Commission will host four more crypto roundtables — focusing on crypto trading, custody, tokenization and decentralized finance (DeFi) — after hosting its first crypto roundtable on March 21.
The series of roundtables, organized by the SEC’s Crypto Task Force, will kick off with a discussion on tailoring regulation for crypto trading on April 11, the SEC said in a March 25 statement.
A roundtable on crypto custody will follow on April 25, with another to discuss tokenization and moving assets onchain on May 12. The fourth roundtable in the series will discuss DeFi on June 6.
A series of four crypto roundtable discussions are scheduled from April through to June. Source: SEC
“The Crypto Task Force roundtables are an opportunity for us to hear a lively discussion among experts about what the regulatory issues are and what the Commission can do to solve them,” said SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, the task force lead.
The specific agenda and speakers for each roundtable have yet to be disclosed, but all are open for the public to watch online or to attend at the SEC’s headquarters in Washington, DC.
SEC softens on crypto with new leadership
The agency’s Crypto Task Force was launched on Jan. 21 by acting SEC Chair Mark Uyeda. It’s tasked with establishing a workable crypto framework for the agency to use.
The task force held its first roundtable on March 21 with a discussion titled “How We Got Here and How We Get Out — Defining Security Status.”
The SEC will also be hosting a roundtable about AI’s role in the financial industry on March 27, according to a March 25 release.
Join us on March 27 for a roundtable discussion on artificial intelligence in the financial industry. Topics include the risks, benefits, and governance of AI.
More details: https://t.co/ekX2RWp2KQ pic.twitter.com/7fH3j1tlwj
— U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (@SECGov) March 25, 2025
The roundtable will discuss the risks, benefits, and governance of AI in the financial industry, with Uyeda, Peirce and fellow SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw slated to speak.
Under the Trump administration, the SEC has slowly been walking back its hardline stance toward crypto forged under former SEC Chair Gary Gensler.
The regulator has dismissed a growing number of enforcement actions against crypto firms it launched under Gensler.
Related: Bitnomial drops SEC lawsuit ahead of XRP futures launch in the US
Uyeda, who took the reins after Gensler resigned on Jan. 20, flagged plans on March 17 to scrap a rule proposed under the Biden administration that would tighten crypto custody standards for investment advisers.
Uyeda also said in a March 10 speech that he had asked SEC staff for options to abandon part of proposed changes that would expand regulation of alternative trading systems to include crypto firms, requiring them to register as exchanges.
Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered
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