Still, on COVID-19, France has recorded a staggering 100,000 virus infections in a single day making it the first of its kind since the beginning of the pandemic while hospitalization has doubled over the past month as the new omicron variant continues to be the main cause of concern in the country.
According to an AP News report via a regional health service, 1 in 100 people in Paris have tested positive in the past week.
The majority of the new cases were linked to the omicron variant which research experts have predicted to be the next dominant cause of COVID-19 in France in the coming days.
As of now, the Omicron variant is already the dominant cause of COVID-19 in Britain.
- Advertisement -
The previous scare was the delta variant which led to an increase in hospital admission in France.
Over the past week, about 1,000 fatalities have been recorded relating to the coronavirus which brings the total case of fatalities to 122,000.
The country’s government is said to commence a meeting on Monday to discuss the next steps in order to curb the spread of the virus.
Experts have advised delaying the post-holiday return to school or re-imposing a curfew as part of an effort to combat the spread of the virus.
However, the country’s education minister has a different opinion while suggesting that schools should resume activities back on Jan. 3rd while other government officials are working to avoid measures that could draw the country’s economy backward.
The French government is said to be planning on stepping up its vaccination campaigns while pushing to draft into law vaccine requirements in order to access public places such as restaurants.
In neighboring Belgium, the government imposed new measures starting Sunday that ordered cultural venues like movie theaters and concert halls to close.
However, some venues defied the ban as thousands of performers, event organizers, and others demonstrated on Sunday in Brussels against the decision of the government while carrying signs that reads “The Show Must Go On” or “No Culture No Future.”
The cause of the refusal is due to allegations of the Belgian government’s double standards as it allowed Christmas markets with their boisterous crowds and mulled wine drinking, to stay open, along with restaurants and bars.
Even the scientific committee advising the Belgian government had not asked for the culture industry closures, leaving virologist Marc Van Ranst to ponder that, in Belgium, “gluhwein beat culture.”
Elsewhere, the Dutch government has gone ahead to shut down every nonessential stores, restaurants, and bars while extending school holidays with new partial lockdown restrictions.
In the UK, the government plans to impose new restrictions after Christmas as the country is hit with a new high of 122,186 daily cases on Friday even though it failed to report figures for Christmas.
Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland imposed new restrictions Sunday on socializing, mainly limiting the size of gatherings, moves that the restaurant, pub, and nightclub industries have described as economically devastating.
