France adopted a mandate to permit its citizens to work from home, effective from January 3, following the rapid spread of the new Omicron variant across its regions.
Remote work will be required at least three days a week for those who are capable, while public gatherings will be limited to 2,000 people indoors, and to 5,000 people for outdoor events, French Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Monday.
France’s authorities will ban the consumption of food and drink in public places, including public transport, cinemas, theatres, and sports facilities.
In indoor places, such as restaurants, all food and drink will have to be consumed seated, not standing.
Those new rules will last for at least three weeks, the French Prime Minister said, part of the country’s measures to stem the spread of the new COVID-19 wave as well as the surge of the new variant. France, however, will not implement a curfew for New Year’s Eve, and schools are scheduled to reopen as planned in early January.
As of Friday, December 24, France recorded 94,000 new cases of COVID-19, a record-breaking figure since the pandemic began, said France’s Public Health ministry.
As for the new Omicron variant, 133 cases have been detected in France, the government spokesperson said on Tuesday, December 14, as the country faces the fifth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
COVID-19 cases are increasing in France, with 72,218 new infections reported on average each day, representing 99% of the peak, according to Reuters’ latest COVID Tracker, released on Tuesday, December 28.
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