Omicron out of control, Macron under pressure to toughen post-Christmas restrictions

A few hours before Christmas Eve, the Covid-19 is once again playing spoilsport this year. While the Omicron variant seems dazzling, the record number of contaminations, which are now doubling every three days, are pushing the government to accelerate its response. Emmanuel Macron will hold a health defense council devoted to Covid-19 on Monday afternoon, just before the Council of Ministers which must adopt the bill transforming the health pass into a vaccine pass, the Elysée announced on Friday to AFP.

Government spokesman Gabriel Attal indicated on Wednesday that a "reassessment of the health situation" was planned for this date, while the arrival of the Omicron variant is causing contamination figures to panic throughout Europe. On Thursday, the threshold of 90,000 daily cases was crossed in France, with 91,608 confirmed cases. The previous record, 86,852 cases, dates back to early November 2020, at the peak of the second wave.

Before reuniting with their loved ones for Christmas, the French have tested themselves en masse in recent days. Having gone off with a bang for several weeks, the epidemic has now taken on the face of the Omicron variant. The government expects it to become a majority in the country shortly, between Christmas and New Year's Day. If several studies show that the effectiveness of vaccines is significantly reduced with only two doses against this variant, a booster dose would raise the level of protection.

Three months to have the booster?

The High Authority for Health (HAS) thus recommended on Friday that the booster dose can be carried out from three months for the eligible population. While waiting to examine this opinion, the Ministry of Health announced in the process that the period would be reduced to 4 months from now and not from January 3 as initially planned. Until then it was 5 months after the previous injection.

With this change to 4 months, 40 million people are eligible today for their booster dose, of which 22 million have already done so, the ministry said. In its opinion, the High Authority for Health also recommends from now on the administration of a booster dose in 12-17 year olds suffering from immunodeficiency or a comorbidity at risk of a serious form.

If for the moment Omicron does not cause waves of hospitalizations, its potential repercussions are worrying, given its extreme contagiousness. "The realistic scenario is that in mid-January we will be at 200,000 contaminations a day," infectious disease specialist Benjamin Davido estimated on CNews on Friday.

With the risk, mentioned Thursday by the Scientific Council, of a paralysis of society because of an increase in work stoppages and "absenteeism". "We will have to think about a backup plan" for the hospital, said Benjamin Davido in particular. Should we remove the notion of "contact case", shorten the duration of isolation, or even abandon the tests? These questions will quickly arise in the face of a variant that is spreading like wildfire.

The Minister of Health Olivier Véran indicated on Thursday that the government would take care to “avoid any phenomenon of paralysis in the country”. the police, the hospital, (the company) will be stopped”, warned Friday Gilles Pialoux, head of the infectious diseases department at Tenon hospital on BFMTV.

In the meantime, the bill transforming the health pass into a vaccination pass will be examined in committee at the National Assembly on Wednesday and should come into force on January 15. This text has aroused concerns and criticism on social networks, in particular about a provision on a possible "accumulation of supporting documents". The intention is absolutely not to require a vaccine pass plus a test to go for a coffee, wanted to reassure Friday a ministerial source to AFP and the president LREM of the commission of the Laws Yaël Braun-Pivet. There is currently no particular lead concerning the places possibly concerned. On the other hand, a negative PCR or antigen test of less than 24 hours will be compulsory from Tuesday for all passengers, vaccinated or not, traveling to French overseas territories from mainland France and abroad, announced Friday the Overseas Ministry. The rumor also swells about a possible curfew after 8 p.m. to curb the circulation of the virus, in addition to increased use of telework.

The French economy risks a major breakdown

Work stoppages due to Omicron risk being the next economic nightmare after that of the first wave. Concern is growing about a potential widespread disorganization in the face of the wave of contamination expected in January. The list is long of sectors at risk of being absent from work linked to the "hundreds of thousands" of cases per day dreaded at the start of the year, according to Olivier Guérin, member of the French Scientific Council, citing "food distribution, safety, energy, transport, communications, and health".

The president of the institution, Jean-François Delfraissy, for his part raised the "possible disorganization of a certain number of essential services". Still a minority in France, the Omicron variant did not cause any problems. massive forced isolations due to positive cases or contact cases, but some warning signs are appearing and the spotlight is on the sixth wave in January.

On the rail, the SNCF notes with the AFP marginal disturbances in the regional trains but no impact on the main lines. The RATP does not feel "no concern for the moment", and the Post Office claims not to have encountered any problem. On the air side, where the Scandinavian company SAS had to cancel dozens of flights on Tuesday and Wednesday due to the absence of sick employees and Lufthansa suffered the same problem on its long-haul flights without confirming that the variant was in question, Air France does not currently see any pilots or flight crew sick enough to force cancellations.

In crafts and small construction companies, a sector already affected by staff shortages, "contact cases and positive cases mean that we are losing more manpower and it will become complicated to provide so much activity", worried Friday the president of their Confederation (Capeb), Jean-Christophe Repon, on France Info. The government tries to be reassuring, the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, affirming that "there are cells of anticipation at all levels (...) so as to allow the country to turn", in the areas of health, education, transport, and the economy. "We must avoid any phenomenon of paralysis in the country," he said again. Questioned by AFP, the Ministry of Finance said on Friday that it was vigilant and closely monitoring the situation, at a time when many sectors could once again call for help.

Teleworking is strongly recommended by the government, but 44% of working people say they cannot use it, according to a survey carried out in mid-December by the Harris firm for the Ministry of Labour. This is by nature the case of live performance, where an outbreak of cases has forced cancellations at the Moulin Rouge, the Crazy Horse and the Mogador Theater in Paris, in the wake of Broadway, which revives the memory of the first wave. of spring 2020.

With AFP

6 mins

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