Government to hold defense council on Friday

This banquet is not really welcome.

A few days before the end of the year holidays, the government will meet to discuss the health crisis this Friday, in a new Defense Council, we learned on Wednesday, confirming information from BFMTV.

On the table, no New Year's Eve meals, but a slew of files, weighing the pros and cons of new restrictions in the face of the fifth wave of Covid-19.

"There could be" new decisions by the end of the week (...) to take the necessary measures ", also declared Gabriel Attal, at the exit of the Council of Ministers, a little earlier in the day, mentioning an acceleration of the vaccination campaign, the strengthening of border controls and the establishment of recommendations for family celebrations.

Echoing the words of Gabriel Attal, Olivier Véran also mentioned several options on the menu, including "accompanying measures" for the holidays as well as a shortening of the deadline for carrying out his booster dose, currently set at five months after the initial vaccination.

A perilous health situation

France, like most European countries, has been facing a surge in contamination for several weeks, which now results in numerous hospitalizations.

The number of patients in intensive care which "should exceed 3,000 very quickly and reach 4,000 around the holidays," said Gabriel Attal.

Read alsoVariant Omicron: "We will probably not be able to differentiate the 5th wave from the 6th"

Contamination continues, at a slightly slower pace than a week ago.

But the government fears that New Year's Eve will give rise to many clusters.

And the arrival of the Omicron variant, announced as more contagious than Delta by the first available data, risks further worsening the health situation.