Europe 1 with AFP 11:34 am, December 18, 2021

The Scientific Council on Covid-19 this Saturday called on the government to introduce "significant restrictions" on the occasion of New Year's Eve. The body indeed warns of the need to avoid mixing of the population in the evening of December 31 in order to prevent a series of mini-clusters at Omicron from forming subsequently.

The Scientific Council on Covid-19 called on the government to introduce "significant restrictions" in the face of the risk of transmission of the epidemic on the occasion of New Year's Eve, in an opinion published on Saturday.

"In view of the acceleration of the epidemic, and the risks associated with end-of-year festive activities, significant restrictive measures must be able to be taken by the authorities on the occasion of New Year's Eve (including, where applicable, under the form of limitation of collective activities or curfews), with the possibility of a territorial variation ", writes this Council.

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Responsible for giving recommendations to the executive with regard to knowledge of the epidemic, this body warns of the need to avoid mixing of populations on the evening of December 31.

"The Scientific Council anticipates that the protective measures will be particularly well followed during the Christmas holidays. (...) Our fellow citizens will be keen to spend this Christmas 2021 celebration in more limited numbers, to be tested before 'ensure that the oldest have received their booster dose, "said the Council.

Avoid "a series of mini-clusters at Omicron"

On the other hand, "for the New Year's festivities, the Scientific Council warns of the behavior of citizens which could be different with a more or less controlled festive activity". He "would like an approach to avoid that on New Year's Day, a series of mini-clusters is set up at Omicron, which could rapidly disseminate in the days that follow throughout the country, given the population movements during this period ", he added.

Saturday morning, at the same time as the publication of this notice, the Paris town hall announced the cancellation of the fireworks and concerts planned on the avenue des Champs-Elysées on the evening of the 31st. The virus contaminations are clearly on the rise in France since mid-November, to exceed the threshold of 50,000 new cases per day.