France urges vaccine uptake, bans New Year's concerts

PARIS (AP) — French authorities on Friday urged people to get vaccinated against the coronavirus ahead of the holiday festivities as infections surge and the government tries to avoid another lockdown.

“The fifth wave is here and it is here in full force,” Prime Minister Jean Castex told a news conference, adding that the fast-spreading omicron variant is expected to dominate infections in France at the start of January.

To curb the spread of the virus during the holidays, the government banned public concerts and fireworks displays at New Year's celebrations and called on people to avoid large gatherings and limit the number of family members congregating at Christmas.

“The fewer you are, the lower the risk,” Castex said.

The prime minister also warned people who still refuse to get vaccinated, without a credible health reason, that their public lives could be severely restricted soon by new legislation the government proposes to present next month.

“While we gave a lot of time to those who have hesitated and had doubts, we will reinforce incentives for vaccination in January because it is not acceptable that the refusal of a few million people to get vaccinated puts an entire country at risk” Castex said.

France has sharply restricted travel to the country from outside the European Union, including from the U.K., because of the spread of the omicron variant. Authorities announced limits on reasons for traveling to France from Britain, a negative virus test less than 24 hours old and a mandatory 48-hour isolation upon arrival beginning Saturday.

In France, authorities have accelerated vaccinations, including a massive push to administer as many booster shoots as possible before families gather for Christmas. Health officials narrowed the gap between the second and...