bars and restaurants will close earlier on New Years Eve
Faced with the surge in Covid-19 cases and the Omicron wave, the prefecture of Haute-Savoie issued an order, this Thursday, December 30, to impose on bars and restaurants in the department a closure at 2 a.m. on the evening of New Years Eve.
This decision has already been taken in Aquitaine, in the Paris region, in the east of France … This Thursday, December 30, the prefecture of Haute-Savoie issued a decree facing the fifth wave of Covid-19 which is breaking in France: the department’s bars and restaurants will close at 2 a.m. on New Year’s Eve, Friday, December 31.
“All establishments open to the public of type N (restaurant and drinking establishment), type L (auditorium, conference, meeting, party, performance or multi-use) and type CTS (marquees, tents and structures) will be closed from 2 a.m. on Saturday January 1, 2022 “, specifies the press release from the prefecture.
“Checks will be carried out by the police and gendarmerie”, is it indicated. In practice, few bars and restaurants close after 2 a.m. But on New Years Eve, many exemptions are usually allowed at these establishments.
We have exceeded the incidence rate at the start of the crisis.
Alain Espinasse, prefect of Haute-Savoie.
The evolution of the situation concerns State services: Haute-Savoie is currently the 5th department with the highest incidence rate in mainland France. It reached 1,184.3 positive cases per 100,000 inhabitants, this Thursday, December 30, according to figures from the prefecture: “We have exceeded the incidence rate at the start of the crisis”, was part of the prefect Alain Espinasse, in a press conference organized this Thursday.
“The number of people hospitalized for Covid-19 in Haute-Savoie has also exploded. It stood at 253 on December 30, 2021 (against 155 on December 15, 2021) including 33 hospitalized in intensive care. Twenty people died in the last 7 days”, mention the document.
Also according to the prefecture, 3,850 new positive cases for the virus were detected on Wednesday, December 29. As of last week, that figure stands at about 1,400 cases per day.
The consequences are already visible in hospital services: “We had to increase our bed capacity in the intensive care unit, which historically has 16 beds in Annecy. There we have gone to 33 and we will get to 4 more next week. Non-urgent operations have been reported. But also thanks to the staff of clinics in the Annecy basin who come as reinforcements“, informs Sandrine Meilland Rey, deputy director of the Annecy Genevois hospital center.
In addition, a first prefectural decree of 22 December banned the consumption of alcoholic drinks on public roads, in public outdoor spaces, and in markets, including Christmas markets in the department, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. .