(Paris) COVID-19 contaminations are exploding in France, under the pressure of the Omicron variant with a new record of nearly 180,000 cases, the day after a new series of measures announced to try to deal with the health crisis .
Three days after having crossed 100,000 contaminations in 24 hours, France broke its record on Tuesday by registering 179,807 new cases of COVID-19, according to data from health authorities.
A level never seen since the start of the health crisis, which testifies to the extreme contagiousness of the Omicron variant.
“Everything suggests that we could reach more than 250,000 cases per day by the beginning of January,” the Minister of Health Olivier Véran predicted on Monday at a conference announcing new measures.
At the end of a Defense Council followed by an exceptional Council of Ministers, Prime Minister Jean Castex unveiled the government’s new response: no curfew on December 31 or postponement of the start of the school year, but a return of the gauges, fixed at 2000 people maximum indoors and 5000 outdoors, the “compulsory” recourse to teleworking “where it is possible”, the prohibition of standing concerts and consumption standing in bars and cafes.
“I think that we should have intervened when Omicron began to appear in Europe” in mid-December, reacted Tuesday in Le Monde the epidemiologist Dominique Costagliola, also director of research at Inserm. “On the contrary, we played Russian roulette hoping for the best”.
According to Public Health France, the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients continues to increase (17,405 Tuesday, including 3,416 in critical care).
“Dissuade gatherings”
In order to limit “the impact on society of a multiplication of contaminations and contact cases, which can lead to a paralysis of public and private services”, the government must “adjust” the rules by the end of the week. isolation for people who test positive and their contact cases.
In the meantime, the Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer has indicated that students in elementary school classes where a positive case of COVID-19 has been diagnosed should present at least two negative tests several days apart, against one currently , to return to school.
He later clarified to AFP that it was only a “working hypothesis which is being studied in conjunction with the health authorities” and that the return to school would take place as planned on January 3, according to the reports. current rules.
The Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin, for his part, asked the prefects, in a telegram consulted by AFP, to take measures to “dissuade gatherings” and impose the wearing of masks in the city center, in particular for the Holy Day. -Sylvestre.
Regarding teleworking, the government wants to impose administrative fines on recalcitrant companies, Labor Minister Elisabeth Borne announced to the social partners during a videoconference on Tuesday.
These fines “will be introduced by amendment in the bill” which will transform the health pass into a vaccination pass and which will be examined in committee on Wednesday in the National Assembly, reported Michel Beaugas, Confederal Secretary for the Labor Force.
” Acknowledgement ”
As for the sale of self-tests to detect COVID-19, it is now authorized in supermarkets, and therefore outside pharmacies, until January 31, 2022. For the government, it is a question of “diversifying the supply circuits and sales ”faced an“ unprecedented ”demand.
The cultural world has also expressed concern over the ban on standing concerts. Several artists, such as Julien Doré, Eddy de Pretto or Hoshi, have joked about the gauges that apply to concerts but not to political gatherings.
To cut short the controversy, the presidential party LREM announced that it would apply the gauges to its meetings.
The world of sport is also worried. The return of the gauges will “hit hard professional rugby clubs” whose resources are linked “to more than 60%” to the presence of the public, warned the National Rugby League (NRL).
From Tuesday morning, Jean Castex was on the ground to go, accompanied by Olivier Véran, to an intensive care unit in Créteil, south-east of Paris.
The Prime Minister did not arrive empty-handed, announcing a monthly bonus of 100 euros net (145 Canadian dollars) for nurses in critical care and resuscitation services as of January 2022.
About 24,000 people are affected by this salary increase, “an essential recognition”, he said.