France is in a "state of alert" on the public health front with a resurgence of cases of Covid-19, but "no lockdown is planned today," according to government spokesman Gabriel Attal.
Speaking this Tuesday morning on France Inter, Attal said: "We are in a state of alert ... the number of contaminations have increased very strongly in the last week, by almost by 50%."
Attal added that even if there are reasons to be confident with the high rate of vaccination among the French population, "absolute vigilance" is imperative.
The government spokesman however assured: "There is absolutely no lockdown planned for today, nor in the near or far future."
Although he repeated a caveat from last Saturday that "nothing should ever be excluded on principle" during this health crisis.
"Il n'y a absolument aucun reconfinement prévu aujourd'hui, ni de près ni de loin", assure @GabrielAttal qui explique toutefois que le gouvernement "n'exclut rien par principe" #le79inter pic.twitter.com/sKixU9G9CJ
— France Inter (@franceinter) November 16, 2021
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Booster jabs in December for over-50s
He also insisted there is no reason to beleive that end of year celebrations in France will be as adversely affected by restrictions such as those imposed in 2020.
He underlined, however, that the immunity conferred by the vaccination programme continues and therefore that the eligible French people get their booster jab.
People over 50 will be eligible for a third, booster vaccination from December.
"We have built a wall thanks to the vaccine, we must avoid it cracking," Attal concluded.
His comments come as Austria on Monday, became the first EU country to confine people unvaccinated against Covid-19 and began rolling out vacccines to children as young as five.
