The French were allowed to no longer wear masks on the street

Prime Minister Jean Castex announced the plans of the republic's authorities to ease restrictive covid requirements, Le Monde reports.

“The authorities will cancel the limit on the number of participants in cultural and sporting events, and the requirement to transfer employees to remote work for three days a week will no longer be mandatory”, - Novaya Gazeta notes.

In another two weeks, from February 16, the French authorities will open entertainment venues and discos that have not worked for more than a year. Stadiums and cinemas will again be allowed to sell food, and bars will be removed from restrictions on selling food and drinks inside establishments to those who agree to eat standing up.

Instead of valid covid certificates, called pass sanitaire, people will be given vaccine passes that are issued after being vaccinated against covid. With these passes, you can enter drinking and entertainment establishments, as well as travel by public transport to other cities. Previously, this required a PCR-test, now it will be replaced by a vaccination certificate. Shortly before France, some of the covid restrictions were lifted by the UK authorities.

“Omicron for the UK was probably not so scary due to the very high percentage of vaccinated. In those who have been vaccinated or have previously had the disease, it does not lead to a severe course. All these social restrictions are being introduced so that the healthcare system is not heavily loaded, and so that people with a severe form of covid are provided with assistance”, - explained researcher at Lomonosov Moscow State University, molecular biologist and virologist Maxim Skulachev.

Britain is not the first country in the world to lift covid restrictions. Previously, a similar one was done in Singapore. The authorities reported that the vaccination rate in the country is 100%.

Meanwhile, in Russia, where the wave of Omicron infections came later than in Europe, many regions began to tighten restrictive measures.

In recent days, the incidence of covid in the Russian Federation has been breaking records, especially in Moscow.