PARIS (Reuters) – French Prime Minister Jean Castex on Monday announced a series of new health measures aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus, while ruling out a new curfew.
The head of government also specified that the start of the school year, scheduled for January 3, would not be postponed and that “at this stage”, it was excluded to resort to a curfew, even if the subject would be re-examined. during a defense council scheduled for January 5.
Jean Castex was speaking after the adoption in the Council of Ministers of a bill creating a “vaccine pass” to replace the health pass currently required in restaurants and many public places.
“This means that in places where this pass has been applied for several months, you will have to justify being vaccinated to be able to enter: the production of a test will no longer be enough”, he explained at a conference. Press.
If adopted by Parliament, the text will apply from January 15, added the Prime Minister.
The draft law on the vaccination pass aims to strengthen the incentive for vaccination by de facto excluding unvaccinated people who had hitherto resorted to tests.
“The bill also provides for an increase in penalties against false passes,” said Jean Castex without giving further details.
The epidemic wave that France is currently facing is mainly due to the Delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, already present in the territory for many months, but the Omicron variant detected last month in southern Africa is in the process of becoming spread quickly.
France recorded more than 100,000 infections with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus on Saturday, a first since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of patients in critical care services stood at 3,299 on Sunday, according to figures from Public Health France.
The scientific council warned last week that France could register several hundred thousand cases per day in January and warned of the risk of a paralysis of economic activity.
NEW MEASURES
Among the new measures that will apply from next Monday and for three weeks are new restrictions for large gatherings, which will be limited to 2,000 people indoors and 5,000 outdoors. Standing concerts will also be prohibited.
Teleworking will be made “compulsory”, also announced Jean Castex, “in all companies and for all employees for whom it is possible, at a minimum of three days per week and if possible four days”.
The government will also extend the obligation to wear a mask in the city center, a measure that the prefects will have to enforce in coordination with the mayors.
The consumption of drinks and food in bars and cafes can no longer be done while sitting and it will be prohibited in cinemas, theaters, sports facilities and public transport, including long distance, continued the chef. of the government.
Jean Castex also announced that the deadline for administering a booster dose of a vaccine against COVID-19 would be reduced from four to three months from Tuesday, December 28, in accordance with a recommendation from the High Authority of Health ( HAS) published on Friday which aims to curb the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
The Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, specified that 45 million French people were now affected by the recall. He acknowledged that resorting to a fourth dose of vaccine was a “possibility” but that no decision on this was taken at this time.
The government will also change the length of the isolation period for people with contact cases but will not announce the terms of this measure until Friday.
“The characteristics of Omicron will lead us, after advice from the health authorities, to adjust our doctrine on the duration of isolation when you are positive, or when you are in contact,” said Jean Castex.
For the moment, the isolation period is set at ten days for an infected person and seven days for a contact person of a positive person, a period extended to seventeen days for contact cases within a same focus.
(Report Marc Angrand, written by Camille Raynaud)