Are we moving towards new restrictions on the eve of the end of the year holidays? The executive meets at the Elysee Palace, Friday, December 17 in the afternoon, for a new health defense council on the evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic. A reaction to the health situation in France, with a sliding average, over seven days, of around 50,000 daily cases, and nearly 3,000 patients with Covid-19 identified in intensive care and intensive care units. According to government spokesman Gabriel Attal, this figure could reach 4,000 by the end of the year.
The emergence and rapid spread of the Omicron variant is also of concern to the French executive. This variant could become dominant in Europe by mid-January, alerted European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday. The situation “requires that we can in anticipation take measures to prevent the dissemination” virus, defended the Minister of Health Wednesday, during a hearing at the National Assembly. A speech also delivered by the government spokesperson, at the end of the Council of Ministers:
“Further decisions can be made by the end of the week, in the coming days.”
Gabriel Attal, government spokespersonat the end of the Council of Ministers
On the subject, Gabriel Attal evokes “several directions” favored by the government: “First, the continued acceleration of our vaccination and recall campaign, then reinforcement measures regarding our borders, and finally clear recommendations for crossing and spending the holidays as conveniently as possible.”
The hypothesis of a confinement or a curfew is evacuated
Strict measures such as a new curfew, confinement or traffic restrictions during the holiday season are not, at this stage, under consideration.
“This is not the choice we made”, Olivier Véran replied Wednesday at the Palais Bourbon, when he was questioned about the possibility of containment measures for unvaccinated people. “This poses important ethical questions, questions of verification which are not simple. The multiplication of false passes would be legion, and above all, with what efficiency and what impact?“he asked.
The hypothesis of a shorter delay between the 2nd and the 3rd dose is studied
Regarding “the continued acceleration of our vaccination and recall campaign in particular“, evoked by Gabriel Attal, a track is currently on the table, advanced Olivier Véran: the fact of reducing the waiting period between the second and the third dose, currently fixed at five months. “Are we, like a number of neighbors, reducing the six-month period between the second and third dose to move towards four months? It’s up to the health authorities to decide , but it’s an idea that I find interesting “, he defended, Thursday morning.
The United Kingdom made this choice at the end of November. the British Committee on Vaccination and Immunization then advised the authorities to open access to the booster dose to all adults, and to reduce the period from six to three months between the second and the third dose, remind him Guardian. In the days following these recommendations, Boris Johnson’s government offered access to the recall campaign to adults over 40 three months after their second dose. Then, appointments were offered to Britons over 30, access to the third dose for 10 million additional people, underlines the British Health Service (document in English) (NHS).
Reinforced border controls
Even if epidemiologists doubt the effectiveness of such a measure in the face of the progress of Omicron, the executive plans to strengthen health controls at the borders. Gabriel Attal has already announced Thursday morning stricter access conditions for travelers from the United Kingdom, a country which has been hit hard by Omicron’s strong push. Across the Channel, 78,610 cases of Covid-19 contamination have been identified in 24 hours, a record since the start of the pandemic in 2020, according to official data.
“We are going to put in place even more drastic border controls with the United Kingdom”, the government spokesman said Thursday on BFMTV. LThe validity of the tests requested on return from the United Kingdom will be reduced from 48 hours to 24 hours, and the reasons for travel will be “limited to French residents and their families”. The movements of “tourism or professionals for people who are not resident in France will be limited”, added Gabriel Attal. In addition, isolation will be required upon return from the UK, to a location that travelers “will choose for seven days, with a control of the security forces”, but who could be “lifted after 48 hours” if a test on arrival in France turns out to be negative. “You will have to register on an application that will generate a prefectural isolation order”, he clarified.
Recommendations for the end of the year celebrations
Gabriel Attal confirmed it: the executive wishes to issue “clear recommendations for crossing and spending the holidays as conveniently as possible ” in France.
In its latest opinion, dated December 8, the Scientific Council mentions several proposals. “For family gatherings such as Christmas meals, it is recommended to limit the number of participants, to ensure that frail people have received their booster dose, to ventilate the premises regularly, and to perform a self-test during the day. same or an antigen test the day before or the day of the event “, writes the instance.
Traveling Thursday, Olivier Véran mentioned, for safer holidays, tables “maybe a little less provided with more spacing, “” if people are all vaccinated, with their booster if possible, if they have been able to perform self-tests. “” It is also these kinds of recommendations that the we will have to call back “, explained the Minister of Health.
A “repentant” status in the event of a false health pass is mentioned
This proposal is put forward by the government to fight against the trafficking of false health passes, and encourage the vaccination of people holding these false documents. “For the French who have fake passes, I think that the emergency is health, and I want us to be able to work on a device that would allow a ‘system of repentance’, that is to say that someone who would benefit from a false document can be put in order and that there be abandonment of proceedings “, explained Olivier Véran, Wednesday at the National Assembly.
“The emergency is for people to get vaccinated, to be protected, insisted the minister. Someone should not be prevented from getting vaccinated because they already have a fake pass and are told: ‘You have already had your two doses’, and the person is very fragile. “