 "vaccine")
French government spokesperson Olivier Veran has called on high-risk groups to get another booster shot against Covid-19 ahead of the holiday season.
As former health minister, Veran told RMC-BFMTV radio that only 20 per cent of high-risk groups in France have received their second booster shots amid a new wave of Covid-19 and the seasonal flu epidemic, Xinhua news agency reported.
"If you are 60 years old and over, if you are a carrier of a disease or if you are in daily contact with fragile or elderly people, get vaccinated against Covid if you are not up-to-date with your booster shots," the former health minister said.
"It will limit the risk of complications and hospitalisation," he added.
There is currently a subvariant that is spreading fast in France, he underlined. "We have an increase of more than 20 per cent in intensive care units linked to Covid-19, which weakens our health system," he said.
According to French immunologist Brigitte Autran, BA.5, the subvariant of the original Omicron subvariant of Covid-19 that has been prevalent in France, has already been replaced with the BQ.1.1 subvariant.
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The French public health agency announced on Thursday that almost 70,000 new cases have been reported in the past 24 hours in France.
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