In France, the government is defending this Wednesday, July 21 in the hemicycle of the National Assembly its emergency bill establishing a health pass for bars, restaurants, transport or ...

Delta variant: taken aback, Emmanuel Macron considers new measures

Faced with the Delta variant, new restrictions are possible at the local level in the departments where the variant explodes, return to wearing a mask outdoors or closing bars and restaurants after a certain time.

AFP - ABDULMONAM EASSA

Text by: Anthony Lattier Follow

8 mins

In France, the government defends this Wednesday, July 21 in the hemicycle of the National Assembly its emergency bill establishing a health pass for bars, restaurants, transport or shopping centers, but also the vaccination obligation for caregivers .

But faced with the explosion of the Delta variant, that will not be enough for the time being and the executive is now considering new measures.

This will be the subject of a Health Defense Council this July 21 in the morning at the Elysee Palace around Emmanuel Macron.

Publicity

With the turn of the screw announced by the president 10 days ago, the government thought it could put away its screwdriver.

But he was taken aback by the explosion of the Delta variant: 18,000 cases in 24 hours, 150% increase in one week: “

never seen before

”, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran was alarmed on Tuesday.

To the point that Emmanuel Macron and the government must once again work on rapid measures to contain the outbreak, while the vaccination is still insufficient and the health pass for bars, restaurants or shopping centers will only apply to August.

►

To read also:
"Health pass" in France: the government seeks to reassure

Agree for the compulsory vaccination of caregivers, less for the health pass, the right requires an adjustment ...

Report: Health pass, oppositions enter into action in Parliament

RFI

There is a complete lack of preparation on the sanitary pass, they do not even know how to put it in place ...

Dr Jérôme Marty

RFI

The challenge for the Defense Council is "to

define the conditions for a summer under the 4th wave

", explains a government adviser.

On the menu: new restrictions possible at the local level in the departments where the variant is exploding, return to wearing a mask outdoors or closing bars and restaurants after a certain time.

No decision has been taken, but several avenues are on the table.

Measures that we hope are temporary

, sighs a framework of the majority,

pending the generalization of the health pass and vaccination.

Vaccination centers fill up

Significant revival of vaccination in France since Emmanuel Macron's speech a week ago, announcing the extension of the health pass to certain places, and compulsory vaccination within a few weeks for caregivers and certain employees;

the acceleration of the epidemic is undoubtedly also playing a role.

In any case, the vaccination centers are full, and last week broke records: 4.3 million doses were injected, 40% of which was the 1st dose.

Until recently, tens of thousands of vaccination slots were struggling to find buyers. For a week, it is the affluence: 520,000 appointments for a 1st dose have been booked daily over the last 7 days, against 140,000 at the beginning of July, according to the authorities. The comparison with Germany and Italy is worth pointing out, for the Ministry of Health, which specifies that the rate of first-time injections is now twice as fast in France as in these countries, while it is was half as much at the start of the month.

To support the upward trend, authorities say there will be no demobilization during this summer period.

The vaccine doses are and will be there;

and professionals to inject them too, we are assured.

To date, ¼ of 12-17 year olds have received a dose of the vaccine, and 2/3 of adults.

Delta variant: taken aback, Emmanuel Macron considers new measures

Delta variant: taken aback, Emmanuel Macron considers new measures

You may like

Trends 24h

Latest