Passes and vaccine passports are increasingly being used across the world to limit entry to public places to those who have been vaccinated, recovered from Covid-19 or tested negative. Here’s an overview: – European pioneers – From March, Denmark, Austria and Hungary were among the first countries to introduce health passes, either on paper or in digital form. You still need a pass to go into restaurants, hotels and sports centres in Austria. In Denmark […]
Tag: France
‘Bonded for life’ – Durant revels in his third Olympic gold
SAITAMA, Japan (AFP) — Kevin Durant said he is “bonded for life” with his US team-mates after they beat France to win basketball gold Saturday, ensuring the Brooklyn Nets star joined all-time great Carmelo Anthony with a third Olympic title. The 32-year-old has been the backbone of the team for a decade, scoring more Olympic points than any player in US men’s basketball history, and he was again the standout against France. He drilled 29 […]
France to offer Covid booster shots to elderly, vulnerable from September
PARIS, France (AFP) — France will offer Covid booster shots to the elderly and vulnerable from September, joining a growing list of countries offering third vaccine shots to fight new virus variants, President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday. “Yes, we will probably need a third dose, not for everyone straight away but at any rate for the elderly and the most vulnerable,” Macron said in the latest in his series of explanatory videos on the government’s […]
New Covid restrictions in France as virus cases rise
AJACCIO, France (AFP) –Health officials in France on Tuesday activated an emergency plan on the Mediterranean island of Corsica as a fourth wave of Covid infections spread across the country. The government also announced it was reactivating a package of measures designed to support medical staff as they brace for a fresh intake of cases. More of France’s popular coastal areas meanwhile reintroduced the compulsory wearing of masks in a bid to stem the incoming […]
Guadeloupe to lock down amid alarming Covid surge
POINTE-A-PITRE, France (AFP) — France’s overseas territory of Guadeloupe is to return to lockdown for at least three weeks because of a “catastrophic” surge in Covid cases, officials announced Monday. The announcement comes days after Martinique, another region of France 190 kilometres (120 miles) to the south, returned to lockdown on Friday for at least three weeks. And the French island of Reunion entered a partial two-week lockdown this weekend, including a 6:00 pm to […]
Paris: demonstrators march against ‘health pass’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCjlgGa1PKo In Paris, demonstrators march against the extension of the ‘health pass’ along the Boulevard de Clichy and in front of the Moulin Rouge. France will from August 9 enforce new legislation that will make a health pass compulsory to visit a cafe, board a plane or travel on an inter-city train, the government’s spokesman said Wednesday. The legislation passed by parliament at the weekend has sparked mass protests in France but the government is […]
France reports 40 millon vaccinated with at least one jab
PARIS, France (AFP) — The number of people in France who have received at least one jab against Covid-19 has crossed the 40-million mark, President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday. After four million people received vaccines over the past two weeks, some 60 percent of the population are now partly or fully vaccinated, Macron tweeted during an official visit in French Polynesia. “All together, we will beat the virus. We will carry on,” he said. […]
USA lose first men’s Olympic basketball game since 2004
SAITAMA, Japan (AFP) — A USA team led by 11-time NBA All-Star Kevin Durant were beaten 83-76 by France on Sunday, snapping an Olympic winning streak stretching back to the 2004 Athens Games. France, with a team containing NBA players including Rudy Gobert and Evan Fournier, limited Durant to just 10 points in the first-round game. Durant sat out most of the third quarter with foul trouble and when it mattered, he was unable to […]
New Covid variant ‘probable’ this year: top French expert
PARIS, France (AFP) — The French government’s top advisor on Covid-19 warned Friday that a new variant of the disease would “probably” emerge in the winter months this year. The country is currently battling an unprecedented spike in new cases caused by the more infectious Delta variant, which was first recorded in India. “We will probably have another variant arrive during the winter,” Jean-Francois Delfraissy, head of the French government’s scientific council, told the […]
French firm makes first sale of artificial heart
PARIS, France (AFP) — French prosthetics maker Carmat said Monday it had sold one of its artificial hearts for the first time since its 2008 founding, for implantation into an Italian patient awaiting a transplant. The operation “was performed by the team headed by heart surgeon Dr Ciro Maiello at the Azienda Ospedaliera dei Colli hospital in Naples, one of the centres with the greatest experience in the field of artificial hearts in Italy,” […]
France warns virus fourth wave could hit by end-July
PARIS, France (AFP) — France could see a new spike in Covid cases by the end of July due to the spread of the more contagious Delta variant of the virus, the government spokesman said Monday. “Over the past week the epidemic is again gaining ground,” Gabriel Attal told France Inter radio, with the Delta variant now accounting for 30 percent of new infections in the country. A fourth wave of infections is “a possibility” […]
France’s Sanofi to invest 2 billion euros in mRNA vaccines
by Marie-Morgane LE MOEL Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi said Tuesday that it would invest 2 billion euros ($2.4 billion) in the mRNA vaccine technology behind the pioneering Covid-19 jabs developed by rivals BioNTech-Pfizer and Moderna. Sanofi, which was left trailing in the race to break out a Covid vaccine in 2020, said it would invest 400 million euros a year between now and 2025 to develop at […]





