Screening tests without a medical prescription will be paid from "mid-October" in France, government spokesman Gabriel Attal announced Wednesday, August 11, at the end of a Health Defense Council and a Council of Ministers.

He argued that "repeated tests do not prevent going to the hospital and heavily contaminating".

Germany made the same choice on Wednesday.

This announcement was greeted on FranceInfo by the president of the "generalists" branch of the Confederation of French medical unions, Luc Duquesnel, for whom "Social security cannot continue to spend a billion euros every month to make tests on people who refuse the vaccine ".

Third dose in September for the most vulnerable and over 80 years old

Emmanuel Macron also confirmed the implementation at the start of a vaccine booster campaign, with a third dose for those over 80 and particularly vulnerable people.

"The meetings will open at the end of August, beginning of September, for a recall campaign which will begin in mid-September," said Gabriel Attal.

"The list of the populations concerned will be drawn up by the High Authority for Health" (HAS), he added.

Two days after the implementation of the extension of the disputed sanitary pass, the President of the Republic said "to measure the constraints", in particular for restaurateurs and cafetiers who must check its validity.

But "we had no other choice because it was either that or the closure of the country," he argued.

Mandatory health pass in some shopping centers 

Some 30,920 new positive cases were identified throughout the territory in 24 hours, for a sliding average of 23,288 cases per day (+ 6.3% in one week).

This is the first time since April 28 that the threshold of 30,000 cases has been crossed in 24 hours.

Consequently, the health pass will become compulsory in shopping centers of more than 20,000 m2 located in departments where the incidence rate exceeds 200 per 100,000 inhabitants.

The measure currently concerns 38 departments, in which the mask must also become mandatory indoors in places open to the public.

"Strict" confinement in Guadeloupe

Another priority displayed during this Health Defense Council: the West Indies where the "strict" confinement, which entered into force at the beginning of the week in Martinique, will be extended to Guadeloupe, said government spokesman Gabriel Attal.

In particular, it imposes the closure of non-essential businesses, seasonal rentals, hotels and beaches, and invites tourists to leave the island.

Emmanuel Macron had described in the morning a "dramatic situation" in these two overseas departments where vaccination is three times lower than in metropolitan France, "cruel demonstration", according to him, of the need for the vaccine.

Vaccination target for at least 50 million people

But the President of the Republic also underlined "the worrying state of affairs" in France, insisting on "a very simple objective: the vaccination of all French people who can be vaccinated".

"We must keep at least the target of 50 million" first-time vaccinated at the end of August, "he added.

"Nobody is immune. There are too many people who think, wrongly, that they will only do mild forms at worst" of the Covid, hammered Prime Minister Jean Castex in front of caregivers in the Aude.

At the start of the school year, middle school, high school and student will be able to be vaccinated in barnums "set up near schools," said Gabriel Attal.

With AFP

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