The “ vaccination pass” has come into operation in France today for people aged 16 and over in places open to the public. A negative test is now no longer sufficient to enter establishments, except to access health facilities and socio-medical services. No pass is required to access health facilities in emergencies. According to the French government, the vaccine pass consists of the presentation of one of three proofs - vaccination certification, a recovery certificate for more than 11 days and less than six months or a certificate of contraindication to vaccination. If you have a complete vaccination schedule your health pass is therefore automatically converted into a vaccination pass. A derogation allowing the use of a negative test certificate of less than 24 hours as part of the "vaccination pass" will be possible until February 15 for people who have received their first dose of vaccine by then, pending their second dose.
The UK government has eased Covid-19 travel rules for people arriving in England from abroad, including from France. As from 4am UK time on 11 February arrivals in England will no longer have to take post-arrival Covid tests if they are fully vaccinated. Rules have also been eased for unvaccinated travellers, who will no longer have to take a day eight test but will still need pre-departure and day two tests. Everyone arriving in England, regardless of their vaccination status, will still need to fill in a passenger locator form although the government said they would be made "simpler and easier" to complete. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have previously followed England's lead, but any changes are for their own governments to decide.
Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire has said that economic growth in France for 2021 will be higher than previously thought. Although final figues for the year are not yet available, speaking to French media this morning he said that economic growth "will be above the 6.25% that we had envisaged". He also maintained the growth forecast of 4% for 2022.
Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi has expressed his support for a deputy of the Pyrénées-Orientales department who was attacked by anti-vaccination protesters at the weekend. Romain Grau, who is also a local councillor in Perpignan, has filed a complaint with police after the attack outside his office on Saturday. The mayor said that there is "an unbearable rise in violence and threats against elected representatives of the Republic".
A member of the National Police in Marseille has taken his own life. In a Twitter post this afternoon the Prefect of Police of the Bouches-du-Rhone said that "a young policeman assigned to the North Division of Marseille, with a promising career" had died. The Prefecture sent its thoughts to his family, loved ones and colleagues.
The municipality of Cannes is launching an“open data” internet portal offering everyone access to public, non-personal and royalty-free data produced by the municipality. The “Cannes Data” site is grouped around ten themes such as administration and publc services, culture, sport, economy and mobility and transport. The website address is https://data.cannes.fr/ “Cannes Data” data will also be disseminated on the regional portal www.datasud.fr and national portal www.data.gouv.fr.
The Local Security and Crime Prevention Council met in Nice this morning in the presence of the Public Prosecutor Xavier Bonhomme and the Alpes-Maritimes Prefect Bernard Gonzalez. The Council took stock of its actions and discussed the outlook for the 2022-2026 financial period. For 2022-2026, the objective is to unite all security and crime prevention partners around a strategy dedicated to prevention and to act as soon as possible before incidents occur.
The Monaco government has reminded property owners in the Principality that a grant is available for the renovation of windows in housing and common areas of buildings. The financial assistance is intended for owners who wish to carry out energy-saving work and improve the soundproofing of homes by installing double glazing. Since the launch of the scheme in August 2020, more than 110 application files have been processed by the Department of the Environment and more than 420 single-glazed windows have been replaced. The government also reminded property owners who wish to install photovoltaic panels, thermal solar panels or insulate the roofs of their building located in Monaco that they can also benefit from subsidies. More information is available on www.gouv.mc
BUSINESS
A widely watched survey of purchasing managers has pointed to slightly slower economic expansion in the UK in January. IHS Markit said that greater material availability led to a faster rise in the manufacturing sector while rising Omicron cases continued to hit services. Meanwhile, a similar survey in the Eurozone suggested that growth had softened to an 11-month low in January amid the surge in Omicron cases. However, an alleviation of supply chain pressures led to strengthening production among manufacturers.
Banknote printer De La Rue has issued a profit warning. It said that the Omicron and Delta variants have caused "substantially increased" employee absences in its manufacturing facilities globally, which will result in lower total operational output for the full year. More recently it has also been affected by supply chain shortages in chips and other raw materials and has experienced supply chain cost inflation. It said that the company now expects adjusted operating profit for the full year to be broadly similar to last financial year, in the £36-40 million range, versus market expectations of about £45-47 million.
SPORT
Tennis....Local French player Alizé Cornet has reached the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time after beating Simona Halep at the Australian Open. Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi Tweeted that "the people of Nice are proud of you". Meanwhile, Iga Swiatek has defeated Sorana Cirstea 5-7 6-3 6-3. Kaia Kanepi defeated second seed Aryna Sabalenka in a final-set tie-break. In the mens singles, in a hard fought match, Danill Medvedev beat Maxime Cressy 6-2 7-6 6-7 7-5. Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Taylor Fritz.
Cricket... England captain Joe Root has been named men's Test cricketer of the year by the ICC. During 2021 he scored two double centuries and a further four hundreds, including three in successive Tests against India.
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