The news comes as the country’s Prime Minister Jean Castex described how the Omicron variant “spreads like lightning.” France has announced a series of restrictions and accelerated deployment of its booster to stop the spread of the highly transmissible variant Omicron. However, the mayor of Perpignan Louis Aliot warned that the French economy “would not resist further confinement”.
The member of the far-right French political party Rassemblement National tweeted today: âOur economy would not withstand another lockdown.
“If we move towards further restrictive measures, I think small businesses, the cultural world and tourism would be badly affected.”
In a video posted on Remontage National’s Twitter page, the mayor of Perpignan said: âI don’t think our economy would resist further containment.
âNow we see that the Netherlands, despite their high vaccination rates, has been forced to impose a new lockdown to cope with the increasing number of cases.
“I think that in France we are doing well by not entering another confinement, at least for the moment, we are doing well by not imposing curfews.
âWe are also doing well by not limiting consumption.
âI am thinking in particular of the small businesses that have suffered a lot from the lockdowns and curfews we had during the pandemic.
âThe cultural world, museums, theaters, business tourism are sectors that are suffering enormously.
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The Foreign Office’s travel advisory for UK travel states: âAs of Saturday, December 18, anyone wishing to travel from the UK to France, regardless of their vaccination status, will not be able to do so. do so only for essential reasons, as defined by the French authorities.
“French nationals, as well as residents in France, are considered to have an essential reason for traveling.”
Prime Minister Jean Castex said at a press conference on Friday that “the fifth wave is here and it is here in full force”.
He compared the spread of the highly mutated variant of Omicron in Europe to âlightningâ.