The country is still reporting among the world’s highest
per-capita daily infections, but virus-related critical care hospitalizations
are easing, and the French government on Wednesday started lifting restrictions
related to the surge in omicron cases.
Masks are now no longer required outdoors in France, large
crowds are again allowed in concerts and sports venues and a government order
to work from home part-time has been lifted.
Meanwhile, France has received its first 10,000 doses of the
Pfizer drug Paxlovid and they will be available in pharmacies starting Friday,
the Health Ministry said Wednesday. It says it’s the first European Union
country to start providing the treatment since it won regulatory approval last
week.
It will be given to adults with symptoms who don’t require
oxygen and who are at higher risk of severe disease, according to European
Medicines Agency guidelines. Supplies of the drug remain limited worldwide.
The EMA last week recommended that Paxlovid be authorized
for use, saying it could help people infected with COVID-19 avoid more serious
disease and being hospitalized. The drug was cleared by regulators in the U.S.
and Britain in December.
An antiviral pill from Merck also is expected to soon be
authorized. Both drugs are expected to be effective against omicron because
they do not target the spike protein where most of the variant’s worrisome
mutations reside. -AP
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