PARIS, France: France has recorded more than 100,000 daily COVID-19 infections for the first time during the pandemic, due to the rapidly-spreading Omicron variant.
Hospitalizations have also doubled over the past month, complicating the French government’s efforts to prevent another lockdown.
In Paris over the past week, more than 1 in 100 people have tested positive, according to the regional health service, with most new infections linked to Omicron.
Meanwhile, a surge in the Delta variant in France drove up hospital admissions and again put pressure on ICUs over the Christmas holidays. More than 1,000 people died from COVID-19 over the past week, bringing the country’s death toll to more than 122,000.
President Emmanuel Macron’s government held emergency meetings to discuss ways of tackling the new surge. Some scientists and educators have advised delaying the return to the new school term and re-imposing a curfew.
However, the country’s education minister said that schools should open on 3rd January as planned, while other government officials are keen to avoid measures that could stifle economic recovery.
Instead, the French government is hoping that vaccinations will be enough and is pushing a draft law requiring proof of vaccination to enter all restaurants and many public venues, instead of the current health pass system, which accepts a negative test or proof of recovery for the unvaccinated.
In neighboring Belgium, the government imposed new measures this week, including closing cultural venues, such as movie theaters and concert halls. But some defied the ban, and thousands demonstrated in Brussels against the decision.
In the Netherlands, the government has gone farther than most European countries and has ordered a partial lockdown, shutting all nonessential stores, restaurants and bars, along with extending school holidays.
In the UK, the government requirements have been largely voluntary and less severe than those on the continent, but officials said that new restrictions could be added after Christmas.
