Monaco’s police service increased its checks on cars entering the Principality on Saturday February 27 and Sunday February 28 with the aim of avoiding a potential influx of people from France, given the fact that regulations in the fight against coronavirus are different in the two countries.
The checks also serve to guarantee the sovereignty of Monaco, which has decided not to lockdown its populace at the weekend, unlike its French neighbour.
Also, controlling access to the Principality contributes de facto to enforcing the French rule of travel limited to 5km and one hour, Minister of State Pierre Dartout said.
“Any resident of the Alpes-Maritimes coming from ‘a confined municipality located more than five kilometres from Monaco has been refused access to Monegasque territory,” he said.
There was an exception for the inhabitants of the bordering municipalities who came, for example, for their basic necessities, as authorised by the prefectural decree of the Alpes-Maritimes, Patrice Cellario, Minister of the Interior, added.
Nearly 70 police officers were mobilized over these two days. They verified that each non-resident person wishing to come into the Principality had a hotel reservation and a negative PCR test of less than 72 hours. These checks were carried out on road, rail and air access points.
Control operations were concentrated on the 10:00-17:00 slot during the two days. It should be noted that the volume of traffic is down sharply compared to the previous weekend, by almost half.
In total, more than 4,000 checks were carried out, including: · 2,500 vehicles checked (245 sent back) 410 station users checked (45 sent back), and 555 restaurant customers checked – all of whom were in order.
Similar checks will be carried out next weekend.
FILE PHOTO: Monaco police conduct a traffic check
