People arriving in France from Britain will have to self-isolate to prevent the spread of COVID-19, notably its Indian variant, government spokesman Gabriel Attal said on Wednesday.

Attal told reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting that details of the measure would be given in the coming hours, including its start date.

Germany had already imposed additional measures for people arriving from Britain, he said, "and France will take similar measures".

Since Sunday, travellers arriving in Germany from the UK have to submit to a quarantine period of two weeks, regardless of whether they can provide a negative test result for the virus.

A French quarantine order is already in place for arrivals from Brazil, India, Argentina, Chile, South Africa, Colombia, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Bahrain, Turkey, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

People travelling from these countries must also be able to produce a negative PCR test less than 36 hours old, or one less than 72 hours old combined with an antigen test taken less than 24 hours previously.

Police are authorised to carry out random spot checks to ensure that quarantine rules are respected, with non-compliance punished with fines of up to €1,500.

The coronavirus variant first detected in India has now been officially recorded in 53 territories, a World Health Organisation report showed earlier Wednesday.