Omicron: Castex brings together its ministers to ensure the continuity of public services

Jacques Serais 9:22 p.m., January 3, 2022

Jean Castex gathered ten of his ministers this afternoon to take stock of the Omicron variant and the continuity of essential public services, which could be threatened by the unprecedented wave of contamination that France is currently experiencing.

This concerns hospitals, places of education, public transport, gendarmeries and police stations.

The objective of this meeting was not to deliver new measures, but to take stock of progress.

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The executive is preparing for the worst concerning the economic activity of the country in this month of January.

The explosion in the number of contaminations risks generating an unprecedented rate of absenteeism which could jeopardize the continuity of public services.

So that was the whole point of this meeting.

Jean Castex reiterated his desire to anticipate possible difficulties in front of this ten ministers.

Bruno Le Maire was present for the economy, Olivier Véran for Health and Jean-Michel Blanquer for Education.

The executive assumes its measures

In short, the Prime Minister recalled that it was out of the question for public services to be affected by the Omicron variant.

For this, no new measures.

For the time being, Matignon assumes the latest isolation rules and does not intend to change them immediately.

According to the Prime Minister, they make it possible to reconcile "protection against the risks of spreading the virus and preservation of socio-economic life".

But prudence remains in order.

Jean Castex asked each of his ministers for a day-to-day inventory of absenteeism by department and by service.

A next meeting will take place in the same format and on the same subject in three days, Thursday, in Matignon.