France sets new record for daily COVID cases

PARIS

France has reported 208,000 new COVID-19 cases, the country’s health minister announced on Wednesday, by far the highest tally of daily cases on record in Europe.

“We have never experienced such a situation … every second, two French people are diagnosed positive,” Health Minister Olivier Veran told the Law Commission of the National Assembly.

In the last week, the daily cases have swelled from 84,000 on Dec. 22 to 208,000 on Dec. 29.

The continuous escalation is due to the presence of the lethal delta and the contagious omicron variant that has made it a “tidal wave,” Veran said.

He said the situation in hospitals remains worrying and that the majority of the COVID-19 patients are unvaccinated.

In the Paris region, an estimated 70% of patients in the intensive care units are not vaccinated, the minister added.

The law commission is set to examine the proposed vaccine pass bill which will convert the current health pass into a vaccine pass and prohibit entry to unvaccinated people in public places.

Veran defended the urgency to impose restrictions on the unvaccinated as they are highly prone to get infected due to a strong virus circulation.

Once the vaccine pass comes into effect, a negative PCR test will no longer be valid as of Jan. 15 and anyone above the age of 12 years will have to show vaccine proof for entry in public places such as restaurants, cafes, long-distance public transport, and cinema halls.

The vaccination pass is aimed at the nearly 5.3 million eligible people above the age of 12 years who are unvaccinated.

“You must understand that you are no longer outside this crisis. We are going to tighten the mesh,” Veran warned.