Tuesday, December 28, 2021
Restrictions in gastronomy
The French government wants home office to be compulsory
In view of the dramatically increasing number of new infections, the French government wants to further tighten the corona rules. It’s about the home office, gastronomy and sporting events as well as the unpopular health pass. Parliament still has to give its approval.
In view of the spread of the Omikron variant, the French government has announced a tightening of the corona measures. Companies should be instructed to send their employees to the home office at least three days a week from January 3, if possible, as Prime Minister Jean Castex said after a crisis meeting of the cabinet. Wherever possible, the mandatory regulation will be extended to four days.
The government also decided to introduce new restrictions on gastronomy: from January 3rd, guests may only be served at tables in bars and cafes. The customers are then no longer allowed to consume their drinks and food while standing. According to Castex, the measures should initially apply for three weeks.
Upper limits on concerts
As a further measure, upper limits are being reintroduced for sporting events and concerts in France: In future, 5,000 spectators will be permitted outside, while the limit is 2,000 guests indoors.
The government also initiated the conversion of the health passport into a vaccination passport. This corresponds to the German 2G rule. If parliament approves the draft law, a negative corona test will no longer be sufficient to participate in public life.
In France, the number of daily new corona infections exceeded the threshold of 100,000 for the first time on Saturday. The country is already experiencing the fifth corona wave, the much more contagious omicron variant is spreading more and more, as in many European countries. Prime Minister Castex spoke of a “race against time”.