Tests, self-tests … Before Christmas Eve, the swab


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The Covid-19 pandemic in Francecase

On December 31, under threat of the omicron variant, the French are being massively tested to be able to celebrate the New Year with their loved ones and without the Covid-19. In Paris, the rush lengthens the queues and the self-tests are running out.

“Are you looking for the self-tests?” Mireille nods in front of a shelf of surgical masks. “A friend told me last night that there were some here”, She sighs, scanning the surrounding shelves, like several other customers. There is a QR code to explain how to use the swab, but no self-tests. “They were taken by storm”, comments a saleswoman according to whom a delivery is planned, but impossible to say precisely when. “Do you have any champagne at least left?” jokes Bernard, a sixty-year-old who is also looking for the precious sesame.

This Parisian is in his third supermarket, without success. “They were telling the news that you could buy it in hypermarkets, but I can’t find any.” This is indeed the case since a decree published in the Official Journal on Tuesday, “Exceptionally and until January 31, 2022”, to face the threat of the omicron variant, which has become the majority in France. Some brands such as Leclerc and Carrefour have started to put self-tests on the shelves, at cost price, without making a marg…



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