New Delhi: France is staring at the beginning of the fifth wave of a Covid-19 epidemic, Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Wednesday.


Reuters reported that Veran said on TF1 television, "Several neighbouring countries are already in a fifth wave of the Covid epidemic, what we are experiencing in France clearly looks like the beginning of a fifth wave," adding the circulation of the virus was accelerating.


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According to the report, the health ministry registered 11,883 new cases on Wednesday, the second day in a row with a new case tally of over 10,000. New cases have seen double-digit percentage increases week-on-week since around mid-October.


Call for vaccination


French President Emmanuel Macron announced the postponement of the pre-decided easing of anti-Covid measures since France is undergoing the fifth wave of the pandemic.


"We are not done with the pandemic yet," he warned in his address to the nation. Macron said that all barrier gestures that protect people from both Covid-19 and other contagious winter diseases should be given more attention, Xinhua news agency reported.


He added that the controls of health passes will also be strengthened in the concerned establishments, including airports, ports and train stations, according to IANS.


People over 65 years of age and the most vulnerable ones will have to get a booster dose in order to validate their health pass from December 15, 2021.


Since the beginning of the Covid-19 vaccination campaign in December 2020, France has injected more than 100 million doses in ten months, and 51 million French is now fully immunized, he said. Macron urged people to get a booster shot six months after the vaccine.


"The solution to this weakened immunity is the injection of an additional dose of vaccine, the booster shot," he said.


He also called on the 6 million non-vaccinated to get vaccinated in order to get protected and to "be able to live normally."


"We have done what is necessary to protect ourselves, we can continue to get the situation under control if each of us does our part," he said.