France Closes Before Christmas, Protests Planned

The French were invited today to take precautions to limit the pre- Christmas movement to avoid a new outbreak of holiday infection at a time when restrictions are being eased a little, in addition to sectors of hospitality and culture.

Prime Minister Jean Castex advised parents not to send their children to school Thursday and Friday before Christmas in order to limit the risk of infection several days later.

Whenever possible, especially if you need to meet vulnerable people for Christmas, if possible, don't take children Thursdays and Fridays,” said the prime minister in Radio Europe 1 and also recommended quarantine a week before family meetings and friends later in the year.

On Tuesday, France was officially released by a second quarantine, which has now been replaced by a night curfew from 800 to 0800.

Life is far from normal, as restaurants and theaters and cinemas stay closed until the new ordinance.

Jean Castex was not optimistic Tuesday and warned that he could not guarantee that cafes, nightclubs and restaurants would be able to start operating on January 20th as planned earlier, explaining that “this depends on how the holiday season will go, which could favour an accelerated spread of the virus”.

The same goes for the culture sector where theatres, cinemas and museums remain closed.

Culture workers criticise these decisions and organise several gatherings throughout France to protest.

To calm them down, Castex confirmed an additional 35m euros to the culture sector and a review of the situation on January 7th.

Thousands of professionals from the hospitality and hotel sectors gathered in Paris on Monday to call “let us work”.

More than 58,000 people have died since the beginning of the epidemic in France, with an average of more than 10,000 new infections each day.