France hits new record for Covid infections
PARIS: The pandemic in France has become a live political issue as the country suffered the highest-ever single-day count of coronavirus cases.
Authorities are struggling to contain the spread of the omicron variant in the country as new infections hit a record 332,252 and the alarming new figure comes a day after French President Emmanuel Macron took a gamble four months away from elections and said his government’s vaccination strategy was to “p--- off” people who hadn’t taken the coronavirus shot.
His political opponents pounced on his explosive comments to highlight on Mr Macron’s perceived arrogance in the eye of voters. The country’s parliament is debating new legislation that would mean only those with a full vaccination status could go out to restaurants, visit museums and attend concerts, even get on trains and take airplanes.
It could effectively ban a life out of one’s home for a stubborn minority of so-called anti-vaxxers that far-right rivals such as Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour are wooing in an increasingly crowded field.
For his part, Mr Macron appears to be tapping into the frustration of mainstream voters taking precautions and eager for a return to normality after two years of disruption.
His biggest challenger, Valerie Pecresse from the Republican party said “it’s not up to the president of the Republic to pick out good and bad French people”. That line of attack could become a leitmotif in coming months in what is becoming an increasingly heated campaign.
Though he hasn’t formally declared, Mr Macron has effectively entered into full-on re-election mode ahead of April’s presidential vote and his approach to the virus risk becoming a determining factor if the pandemic persists in disrupting the economy and people’s freedom to move.
On Wednesday, an Internet poll of 855 people conducted by Elabe found that 53% of the French were shocked by the president’s remarks made to Le Parisien newspaper.
The current “supersonic” spike of coronavirus infections is expected to last days, if not weeks, French government spokesperson Gabriel Attal said.