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HEALTH

France to lift lockdown, but with extra restrictions in place over Christmas

France will lift its lockdown as planned on December 15th - but with extra strict conditions in place in the face of worrying health data, the prime minister has announced.

France to lift lockdown, but with extra restrictions in place over Christmas
French Prime Minister Jean Castex. Photo: AFP

France had initially hoped to be able to lift many of its lockdown rules on December 15th – allowing people to travel to visit friends and family over the holidays – followed by a reopening of bars and gyms on January 20th.

However all this depended on cases falling to 5,000 a day, a target that the government now judge 'impossible'.

Instead Prime Minister Jean Castex announced on Thursday evening that while some restrictions will be lifted, other will stay in place and an 8pm curfew will be introduced.

He said: “We are not yet at the end of the second wave, and we won’t be at the goal we set of 5,000 new cases per day by December 15th.

“We know that the gatherings over the holidays present a risk.

“For all these reasons we need to keep our guard up, stay vigilant. . . and let everyone benefit from the holidays, but without risking provoking an epidemic resurgence.”

From December 15th

  • Lockdown will be lifted, and trips out of the home will no longer require an essential reason or an attestation (permission form).
  • A curfew from 8pm to 6am will be introduced
  • Cinemas, theatres and other cultural centres, which had been scheduled to reopen on December 15th, will stay closed until at least January 7th
  • Bars, restaurants and gyms will remain closed until at least January 20th, as planned
  • Rules on religious services remain the same
  • The curfew will be lifted on December 24th, but not on December 31st as had previously been suggested

The prime minister called on everyone to continue to work from home if possible, stay home as much as possible and limit social gatherings.

Castex said: “The conditions for reopening cultural centres are unfortunately not met. These are mainly cinemas, theatres and museums, but also sports establishments that receive public, circuses, zoos or even gaming rooms and casinos.

“I know how much the cultural sector has prepared to reopen. . . This decision was especially painful, believe us.”

However travel between regions – and in and out of France – will be allowed from December 15th for all reasons including holidays and family visits.

The curfew will be strictly enforced and only the following reasons will be accepted for being out between 8pm and 6am

  • Working or travelling to and from work
  • Essential family reasons (not including family visits)
  • Medical reasons
  • Providing aid to a person in need
  • Walking the dog (although trips out for exercise are not allowed during curfew)

An attestation will be needed for all trips out of the home during curfew hours and people found out at night without a form risk a €135 fine.

For the full rules on the curfew – click here.

On the subject of Christmas, the prime minister said that people could travel to see relatives, but urged people to keep gatherings small – France's recommended limit is six adults – and warned that too many gatherings could lead to a third wave of cases – and third lockdown – in January.

Health minister Olivier Véran warned that although cases were no longer rising, a resurgence could happen very quickly.

He said there were two major risk factors; the cold damp weather which has driven everyone indoors and the end-of-year holidays which will see an increase in socialising.

He said: “We will not arrive at 5,000 cases on December 15th.

“One person is hospitalised every minute still with Covid. Case numbers are decreasing, but the decrease is slowing down.

“This past 24 hours a Covid patient has been admitted into intensive care every seven minutes.

“The risk is that seriously ill cases will increase again.”

Member comments

  1. I do understand that families like to get together at Christmas. I don’t understand why they can’t be postponed for just 6 months when conditions might be safer and better for everyone.
    My family are going to have an “Australian” Chistmas, here in France on June 25th ’21. (I know it should be 21st as summer equinox , but lets have two days celebration LOL)

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HEALTH

France reports nearly 200 cholera cases in Mayotte

Nearly 200 cases of cholera have been reported on the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, which is struggling to contain the deadly epidemic.

France reports nearly 200 cholera cases in Mayotte

“As of June 18th, 2024, 193 cases of cholera have been reported in Mayotte,” France’s Santé publique France health agency reported in its weekly update.

Of those, 172 were locally acquired cases, while 21 were in people infected in the neighbouring Comoros archipelago and countries on the African continent.

Cholera is an infectious disease typically causing severe diarrhoea, vomiting and muscle cramps. It spreads easily in unsanitary conditions.

Mayotte, which is home to around 320,000 people, reported its first locally acquired cases of cholera in late April, according to officials in Paris.

Two people have died since the beginning of the epidemic, one of them a three-year-old girl.

Santé publique France warned there was a particularly high risk of transmission in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, “as long as access to drinking water and sanitation is unsatisfactory”.

French authorities have been criticised for failing to secure access to drinking water to prevent a cholera epidemic in its overseas territory.

President Emmanuel Macron called for cholera to be ‘consigned to the past’ when he hosted a summit on Thursday on vaccine production in Africa.

Many parts of Africa have recently seen fatal outbreaks of cholera, which has highlighted the shortage of local vaccine production.

The Comoros, which has been affected by a cholera epidemic for the past four months, has recorded 134 deaths and more than 8,700 cases, according to a report published by local authorities this month.

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