Thousands of holidaymakers are racing to return to the UK, with quarantine restrictions imposed on France coming into force from Saturday.
The 14-day isolation requirement from 04:00 BST also applies to people arriving from the Netherlands, Monaco, Malta, Turks and Caicos, and Aruba.
Eurotunnel trains are booked up, while air travellers face steep prices and extra ferry services have been added.
France warned it would take “reciprocal measures”.
The countries were targeted for quarantine restrictions because their infections rates exceeded 20 per cases 100,000 people over seven days, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said.
“We’ve worked so hard in this country to get our level of infections down, the last thing we want do is to have people returning and bringing the infection with them. It’s to protect everybody,” Mr Shapps told BBC Breakfast.
He said there are about 160,000 British holidaymakers currently in France.
The deadline means many of them face a frantic rush to book new travel arrangements, pack and make it back to the UK in time.
Tom Duffell said he found “huge queues” at the airport as he returned home from Nice with his family.
“We were enjoying a nice cocktail last night and suddenly a news flash pops in and a scramble to book flights,” he said.
“We’ve had to spend about £800 because we can’t afford to take another two weeks off work.”
- Madagascar’s cure fails to eradicate coronavirus as country struggles with surge
- New Zealand: Prime Minister extends lockdown to curb spread of covid-19
Stephanie Thiagharajah, who is French but lives in Kent, criticised the “manic” way the quarantine had been imposed after she spent a “really stressful evening” booking a train from Paris to London.
“The Eurostar was full of families, scared to be quarantined, they were definitely annoyed,” she said.
Eurotunnel said its Channel Tunnel trains were fully booked until Saturday. Earlier, customers had faced long queues to access the website.
John Keefe, director of public affairs at Getlink, which operates the Channel Tunnel, warned people not to travel to the terminal without a confirmed booking. “There is no space available,” he said.
Prices of some flights to the UK from Paris were more than £450, compared to £66 on Saturday. Many direct flights from the south of France are sold out.
The cheapest Eurostar tickets were £210, compared with £165 on Saturday.
But P&O Ferries told the BBC it had increased its capacity on its Spirit class ships. It said there was now availability, but added that passengers should still book in advance rather than just turn up at ports in France, the Netherlands or Belgium.
