France demands masks for 6-year-olds
France lowered the age of children obligated to wear masks from 11 to 6
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French authorities announced Saturday that children six and older will have to wear masks in indoor places open to the public as new cases of the highly contagious omicron variant surge past 200.000 for the fourth consecutive day.
By lowering the age of children obligated to wear masks from 11 to 6, the government is hoping to avoid shutting down schools after the holiday break. Classes resume Monday and young children will have to wear masks in public transport, in sports complexes and places of worship. The mask mandate extends to outdoor spaces in cities such as Paris and Lyon that have recently re-introduced mask wearing outside.
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Kids drawings hang on a wall as a boy is vaccinated, in a vaccination center, in Nantes, western France, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2021. France has vaccinated 77% of its population and is rushing out booster shots. But more than 4 million adults remain unva
On the first day of the new year, France registered 219,126 new infections, down only slightly from the daily record of 232,200 noted on the last day of 2021.
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French government is betting that fifth wave of the pandemic driven by the fast-spreading omicron variant can be tamed without returning to economically damaging lockdowns or curfews and without hospitals collapsing under growing numbers of gravely sick.
Health care workers administer COVID-19 tests at a drive-thru clinic in Sydney, Friday, Dec. 31, 2021. Australian health authorities have reported a record 32,000 new virus cases, many of them in Sydney. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP Image via AP)
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France has lost 123,000 people to COVID-19.