[ad_1]
PARIS (Reuters) – Hundreds of thousands of people in France have rushed to schedule appointments to be vaccinated against the coronavirus after the president warned the unvaccinated would face restrictions aimed at curbing the rapid spread of the Delta variant.
Unveiling sweeping measures to fight an upsurge in infections, Emmanuel Macron said Monday evening that vaccination would not be compulsory for the general public for now, but stressed that restrictions would focus on those who are not vaccinated.
The president said health workers need to get vaccinated by September 15 or face the consequences.
Stanislas Niox-Chateau, who runs Doctolib, one of the country’s largest online websites used to book vaccine appointments, told RMC radio that there was a record number of requests for vaccines after the president’s announcement.
“Nearly a million vaccine appointments have been made, which means that thousands of lives have been saved,” Health Minister Olivier Veran told BFM TV.
Macron said on Monday that a health pass required to attend large-scale events would now be used much more widely, including entering restaurants, cinemas and theaters.
It will also be necessary to board long-haul trains and planes from the beginning of August, which will further encourage people to get vaccinated at the start of the summer holiday season.
A slowdown in vaccination rates and a sharp recovery in new infections due to the now dominant highly contagious Delta variant have forced the government to rethink its strategy.
“September 15 is too late, the virus doubles every five days. We are talking about low numbers that quickly become high. What we want is to avoid an epidemic wave and (obtain) protection for everything the world. We don’t take this decision lightly. “
After dropping from more than 42,000 per day in mid-April to less than 2,000 per day at the end of June, the average number of new contaminations per day in France has started to rise again to now stand at nearly 4,000 per day.
Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire warned on franceinfo radio that the only obstacle to France’s 6% economic growth in 2021 would be a slight increase in COVID-19 due to the Delta variant.
(Reporting by John Irish, Jean-Stephane Brosse and Benoit van Overstraeten; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
[ad_2]
Source link