the executive is looking at “the last levers” to operate before stronger restrictions

How to slow down the fifth wave of Covid-19 without slowing down the country or rushing the French? The executive holds a new health defense council on Monday, December 6. While 42,252 new cases have been detected in the past 24 hours, that 11,526 people are hospitalized, including 2,066 in intensive care, the government is considering adapting measures to stop the spread of the virus.

According to information from franceinfo, there will be no question of curfew or confinement. The question of new gauges in closed spaces is not on the agenda either. The defense council will focus above all on vaccination, the means to boost it and reduce the deadlines for making an appointment.

An adviser from the Elysee Palace explains that it will be necessary to bet on city medicine, because many doses ordered must arrive this week. More globally, “the challenge is to see what are the last levers that we could activate without placing constraints on the vaccinated people”, specifies our source.

Immunization of all children aged 5 to 11, not just those with co-morbidities, is also on the meeting agenda. It will be debated, but without making a decision, because the government is awaiting the opinion of the Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS). This vaccination could start in January. But the executive warns that there will be no question of imposing the health pass on 5-11 year olds.

Finally, the health defense council will question the advisability of anticipating the school holidays, while Belgium has brought them forward by a week in schools. An adviser replies that for France, it is rather: “no”. But, as is often the case on this subject, behind the scenes, the battle is fierce between the ministries of health and education.