The Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, will speak at midday to present new measures intended to deal with the health crisis, while the number of cases has been increasing very rapidly in France for several days, reaching 32,591 new contaminations Wednesday according to Public Health France, the highest since April 24.

Mr. Véran will specify to whom the booster dose, called the third dose, of anti-Covid vaccine will be opened in the coming weeks, parliamentary and government sources told AFP.

From December 15, the validity of the health pass for people over 65 will be conditional on a booster dose six months after the last injection.

From a government source, the executive is determined to go even further by opening it quickly to all adults, as envisaged by the Scientific Council and the Vaccine Strategy Orientation Council, two advisory bodies, in recent days.

According to two parliamentary sources, the gap between the last vaccine and the booster dose would be reduced from six to five months.

The validity of the anti-Covid test for non-vaccinated people wanting to take advantage of the health pass should be reduced from 72 hours to 24 hours.

Covid-19: the incidence in France AFP

We must "put the strain" on the French who have made "the choice not to be vaccinated", indicated Mr. Attal.

"Vaccines for children aged 5 to 11 have been mentioned but we have been told that it will not be before 2022 and subject to the opinion of the European Medicines Agency," the deputy told AFP. Bertrand Pancher (freedoms and territories).

Reinforcement of controls

As for wearing a mask, it could be made compulsory in all indoor places where the health pass is requested (restaurants, shopping centers, performance venues, museums, etc.).

Even in a few outdoor places with a high concentration of people such as Christmas markets, at the discretion of the prefects.

A strengthening of health pass controls in restaurants, cinemas and transport as well as a strengthening of screening campaigns in schools are also planned.

"The observation is clear: our epidemic situation is deteriorating," said government spokesman Gabriel Attal on Wednesday, leaving a council of ministers and a health defense council.

For the executive, it is a question of "saving the end of year holidays", he underlined.

These two meetings, held in the physical absence of Prime Minister Jean Castex, himself tested positive for Covid, have already enabled the government to largely mark out the ground, by removing a curfew or a re-containment on the model of Austria. , which took this measure of unprecedented severity a few days ago in Europe since the start of vaccination campaigns.

Other "confinements", in reality less strict, had already been decreed in other countries such as Latvia and the Netherlands, while Europe again this fall became the global epicenter of the pandemic.

But, in France, this type of measure is currently envisaged "neither near nor far", according to a government source.

Covid-19: situation in AFP hospitals

The outbreak of contaminations in the country is not in fact accompanied for the moment by a surge in hospitalizations, despite an increase in recent days.

The government blames this "decorrelation" for a high vaccination rate compared to other European countries.

© 2021 AFP