France launched a new vaccination campaign against COVID-19 this week, urging vulnerable individuals to get another booster jab with the vaccines updated to tackle the latest circulating variants.

It comes as cases are rising in more than half of European countries, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), with increases in hospitalisations, ICU admissions, and deaths in some countries, though this remains limited.

While some 73 percent of people in EU and European Economic Area (EEA) countries have had a primary course of COVID-19 vaccination, the original one or two-shot jab regime, booster shot uptake is lower.

Spain updated its winter vaccination recommendations in September, the Netherlands has also started re-vaccinating at-risk groups against COVID-19. Fifth booster doses were available in Poland from April for people at risk for severe illness as well as for health workers. Bulgaria began its new campaign with the vaccines that target the Omicron XBB subvariant last week.

“The epidemiological situation with COVID-19 currently does not require any ordered infection protection measures for the general population in the sense of isolating sick people and quarantining contact persons,” the German health ministry wrote to Euronews Next.

“If symptoms of a respiratory infection occur, such as a runny nose, sore throat or cough, it is recommended to stay at home and avoid contact for 3 to 5 days until the symptoms have significantly improved. If necessary, a doctor's practice should be contacted”.

Italy lifted its last COVID-19 isolation restrictions in August, stating that the availability of vaccines and drugs no longer made it necessary to require mandatory self-isolation.

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