Covid-19: France strengthens the health protocol in schools and closes its nightclubs
Jean Castex announced on Monday a battery of measures against the 5th wave of Covid-19 without wanting to resort to “disproportionate” provisions such as confinements or gauges.
AFP - THOMAS SAMSON
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
Closure of nightclubs, strengthening of the health protocol at primary school, opening of the vaccination envisaged for all children: Jean Castex announced on Monday a battery of measures against the 5th wave of Covid-19.
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To halt the progression of the epidemic which touches the 50,000 daily cases, the Prime Minister has again decided to close nightclubs for four weeks from Friday, while the holiday season looms, during a press conference in the presence of its Minister of Health Olivier Véran.
Sectors in difficulty will be compensated, promised the Prime Minister.
"
We do this because the virus circulates a lot among young people, even vaccinated, because wearing a mask is extremely difficult in these establishments,
" added the Prime Minister.
"
We are also doing it for consistency with the general message of caution,
" he stressed.
Opening of vaccination for children aged 5 to 11
For schools and while the spread of the virus has accelerated sharply among children under 12, the health protocol will be raised to level 3 for primary schools, with the wearing of a mask in schoolyards as a result, the limitation of contact sports and a new organization for the time of the canteen "
in conjunction with local elected officials
", detailed Jean Castex.
"
We will maintain our policy of systematic screening of all students if there is a positive case in the class and closing the class after three positive cases
," he added.
The government also plans to open up vaccination against Covid-19 "
to all children
" from 5 to 11 years old, "
on a voluntary basis, if possible by the end of the year
".
For the 360,000 children "
at risk
" of developing serious forms of the virus, vaccination has already received the green light from the High Authority for Health (HAS) and "will
begin on December 15,
" said the Prime Minister.
To facilitate
vaccination
in elderly people deemed to be the most fragile, those over 65 will be able to access the booster without an appointment, regardless of the center.
►
To read: Crisis in the West Indies: start of negotiations on the law on compulsory vaccination
Limit social interactions and meetings
The head of government also called on the French "
to ease off
" on social interactions.
Concretely, it is a question of postponing the ceremonies, the departure drinks in companies.
Jean Castex recommends doing the same in the private sphere.
Within companies and the public service, the government targets 2 to 3 days of teleworking per week and wants to limit face-to-face meetings.
"
By reducing the rate of contamination by only 10%
", the hospital could avoid a new embolism, said Jean Castex who estimated that the establishment of "
gauges
", "
curfews
" or "
confinements
", "
Would be disproportionate
" in the current state of the epidemic.
"
Without the vaccination,
" insisted the Prime Minister
, containment measures would certainly have already been taken which is not the case today and the objective is that this will not be the case tomorrow either.
"
He also recalled the importance of the vaccine booster which "
considerably boosts
" protection, adding that on December 30, more than 15 million people will have received a booster dose in France.
►
To read: Omicron: France imposes a PCR test on any traveler, even vaccinated, arriving from a country outside the EU
(With
AFP
)
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France
Coronavirus
Vaccines
Jean Castex