PARIS: France does not need to follow those European countries imposing COVID-19 lockdowns on unvaccinated people, because of the success of its health pass in curbing the virus’ spread, President Emmanuel Macron said.
Europe has again become the epicenter of the pandemic, prompting some countries including Germany and Austria to reintroduce restrictions in the run-up to Christmas and causing debate over whether vaccines alone are enough to tame COVID-19.
“Those countries locking down the non-vaccinated are those which have not put in place the (health) pass. Therefore this step is not necessary in France,” Macron told La Voix du Nord newspaper in an interview published on Thursday.
In France, proof of vaccination or a recent negative test is required to go to restaurants, cafes and cinemas and to take long-distance trains, among other activities.
Europe accounted last week for more than half of the seven-day average of infections globally and about half of the latest deaths, according to a Reuters tally.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday announced curbs on public life for those not yet vaccinated in areas where hospitals are filling dangerously fast with COVID-19 patients. Austria has also imposed a lockdown for the unvaccinated.
Earlier in the day, several hundred people protested outside the Austrian Embassy in Paris against Austria’s restrictions, fearing France might be next to reimpose curbs aimed at reducing the circulation of the virus.
Macron said he was still awaiting guidance from health authorities on whether a third dose should be extended to all those eligible for the vaccine.
A booster shot is currently available for those over 65 and the frail and will be required for a valid health pass for the age group from December.
“If it’s shown that a third dose is effective and necessary for the wider public, then obviously we will incorporate it into the health pass,” he told La Voix du Nord.
Macron says France does not need to lock down non-vaccinated people as COVID spreads
https://arab.news/rwupt
Macron says France does not need to lock down non-vaccinated people as COVID spreads
- Europe has again become the epicentre of the pandemic, prompting some countries including Germany and Austria to reintroduce restrictions
- "Those countries locking down the non-vaccinated are those which have not put in place the (health) pass. Therefore this step is not necessary in France," said Macron
Top Australian writers’ festival canceled after Palestinian author barred
SYDNEY: One of Australia’s top writers’ festivals was canceled on Tuesday, after 180 authors boycotted the event and its director resigned saying she could not be party to silencing a Palestinian author and warned moves to ban protests and slogans after the Bondi Beach mass shooting threatened free speech.
Louise Adler, the Jewish daughter of Holocaust survivors, said on Tuesday she was quitting her role at the Adelaide Writers’ Week in February, following a decision by the festival’s board to disinvite a Palestinian-Australian author.
The novelist and academic Randa Abdel-Fattah said the move to bar her was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday announced a national day of mourning would be held on January 22 to remember the 15 people killed in last month’s shooting at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach.
Police say the alleged gunmen were inspired by the Islamic State militant group, and the incident sparked nationwide calls to tackle antisemitism, and prompted state and federal government moves to tighten hate speech laws.
The Adelaide Festival board said on Tuesday its decision last week to disinvite Abdel-Fattah, on the grounds it would not be culturally sensitive for her to appear at the literary event “so soon after Bondi,” was made “out of respect for a community experiencing the pain from a devastating event.”
“Instead, this decision has created more division and for that we express our sincere apologies,” the board said in a statement.
The event would not go ahead and remaining board members will step down, it added.
Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, British author Zadie Smith, Australian author Kathy Lette, Pulitzer Prize-winning American Percival Everett and former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis are among the authors who said they would no longer appear at the festival in South Australia state, Australian media reported.
The festival board on Tuesday apologized to Abdel-Fattah for “how the decision was represented.”
“This is not about identity or dissent but rather a continuing rapid shift in the national discourse around the breadth of freedom of expression in our nation following Australia’s worst terror attack in history,” it added.
Abdel-Fattah wrote on social media that she did not accept the apology, saying she had nothing to do with the Bondi attack, “nor did any Palestinian.”
Adler earlier wrote in The Guardian that the board’s decision to disinvite Abdel-Fattah “weakens freedom of speech and is the harbinger of a less free nation, where lobbying and political pressure determine who gets to speak and who doesn’t.”
The South Australian state government has appointed a new festival board.
