PARIS, France (AFP) — France will soon drop its requirement of a negative COVID test for vaccinated travellers from outside the European Union, as daily infection numbers continue to fall, Europe Minister Clement Beaune said Tuesday.

“We again required tests in December over the Omicron variant. In the coming days we will announce that tests are no longer needed for vaccinated people,” Beaune told France 2 television.

Currently anyone coming from outside the EU, including Britain, has to show a negative test result from the previous 48 hours, regardless of vaccination status.

“This week there will probably be a new European protocol for vaccinated people arriving from outside the EU, with eased measures,” he added.

EU members agreed on January 25 to better coordinate their travel rules, in particular for people crossing borders within the bloc.

The Omicron surge prompted Italy and Denmark, for example, to impose recent negative test requirements for entry by fellow EU residents as well as vaccination proof, a tightening of the rules that irritated officials in Brussels.

French authorities began lifting a series of COVID restrictions this month, with nightclubs set to reopen from February 16 and standing areas once again authorised for concerts and sporting events as well as bars.

The country recorded 46,001 COVID cases on Monday, a sharp drop from the record of just under 465,000 infections in mid-January.