PARIS, Dec. 30 (Xinhua/APP):France reported on Wednesday 208,099 new confirmed COVID-19 cases detected in the past 24 hours, a new daily record since the outbreak of the pandemic in France.
“This means that 24 hours a day, every second, two French people are diagnosed positive. We have never experienced such a situation, it is everywhere, in all territories,” said French Minister of Health Olivier Veran at a hearing of the French National Assembly.
Presenting a draft bill of the vaccination pass to the Assembly, he said the pandemic is still ongoing and the fight against the Delta and Omicron variant must continue.
He urged French citizens to get vaccinated, citing that 70 percent of patients in intensive care in hospitals are those non-vaccinated.
According to him, there are still five million French people who are not vaccinated at all.
However, he said that the vaccination pass won’t be mandatory for entering hospitals or elderly people’s homes as “we do not want to prohibit access to care for the unvaccinated.”
For New Year celebrations, bars and restaurants in Paris will have to close doors at 2 a.m., Paris Police Department announced on Wednesday, adding that drinking alcohol in public areas will be prohibited on Dec. 31 from 6 p.m. in the evening.
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