End of health emergency and post-crisis regime since 1 August 2022

The law repeals as from 1^er August 2022 the provisions of the Public Health Code relating to the health emergency, created in spring 2020, and the health crisis management regime established by the law of 31 May 2021. Curfew The measures that these two regimes allowed (confinement, restriction of movement, closure of establishments, obligation to wear a mask, health pass...) can no longer be taken, without the passage of a new law.

In order to be able to take the necessary and proportionate measures that a resumption of the epidemic might require, the law nevertheless maintains a surveillance and health security mechanism in the fight against COVID-19. The SI-DEP (centralization of test results) and Contact Covid (identification of sick people and contacts) information systems are being extended until 30 June 2023 to monitor the outbreak.

The legislation also provides the government with the opportunity, until June 30, 2023, to request a negative test for travelers 12 years of age or older:

• to France from the foreigner or to the metropolis from overseas in the event of the appearance and circulation of a new variant of COVID-19 that could pose a severe health threat. This certificate may be required prior to boarding the aircraft. It may also be imposed on the staff of the transport services concerned;
• to the overseas territory from the metropolis in case of risk of saturation of hospitals. Transport staff are also affected.

The law of 30 July 2022 envisages the possibility of reinstating health workers suspended because they are not vaccinated, when the vaccination obligation is no longer medically justified. The vaccination obligation may be suspended by decree for some or all of the personnel who are subject to it after a favorable opinion of the High Authority of Health (HAS). Seized by the Ministry of Health on July 18, 2022, the HAS issued its opinion against the lifting of the vaccination obligation for health and medical and social care professionals in an opinion of 21 july 2022.

Finally, the Scientific Council set up in March 2020 to advise on the state of the pandemic and the measures to be taken is replaced by a 16-member Health Risk Watch and Anticipation Committee. The committee is responsible for monitoring health risks related to human and animal infectious agents, environmental and food pollutants, and climate change, modeling the data collected, and making projections and recommendations.