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“The virus is spreading through France at a speed that even the most pessimistic ones predicted,” Macron said in a highly anticipated television address.
This image shows a screen showing French President Emmanuel Macron as he addresses the nation during a televised interview from the Elysee Palace on the situation of the new coronavirus COVID-19 in France, in Paris, on October 14, 2020. Image : AFP
PARIS – French President Emmanuel Macron announced a new coronavirus lockdown on Wednesday until at least December 1, hoping to control an outbreak that is poised to overwhelm hospitals in a matter of days.
“The virus is spreading through France at a speed that even the most pessimistic ones predicted,” Macron said in a highly anticipated television address.
He admitted that the curfew in Paris and other major cities imposed two weeks ago failed to stop a second wave of cases that has raised the death toll in France to nearly 35,000.
“As in other parts of Europe, we are overwhelmed by a second wave that will probably be more difficult and deadly than the first,” Macron said.
“If we did nothing … in a few months we would have at least 400,000 additional deaths,” he said.
Already more than 3,000 intensive care patients are forcing hospitals to find beds, and “no matter what we do, nearly 9,000 people will be in intensive care by mid-November,” he warned.
Health agency Sante Publique France reported 244 new virus deaths in the last 24 hours and more than 36,000 new positive tests on Wednesday.
‘The economy must not stop’
Starting Thursday night, nonessential bars, restaurants and businesses will be forced to close and written statements will be required for people to leave their homes.
“Stay home as long as possible and follow the rules,” he urged.
But unlike the two-month closure imposed last spring, students through the high school level will continue to attend school.
Universities, which have been the source of various virus clusters since September, will only have online classes.
Factories and farms will also be allowed to operate, and some public services will operate, to limit the economic damage that would result from the total closure of the country.
Professional athletes will also be allowed to continue training and competing.
“The economy must not stop or collapse,” Macron said, although working from home will be the norm for companies that can manage it.
He promised additional financial relief for businesses, acknowledging that many hoped to stay open before the crucial Christmas season that now appears to be in jeopardy.
“If in two weeks we have the situation under better control, we can reassess things and hopefully open some businesses, particularly for the Christmas holidays,” he said.
“I hope we can celebrate Christmas and the New Year with the family,” he said.
‘Hopefully it works’
Macron held crisis meetings with top ministers this week as doctors increasingly warned that only another lockdown would effectively reduce the increase.
Parliament will be asked to vote on the new measures, and Prime Minister Jean Castex will hold a press conference on Thursday night to provide additional details.
But the government may have to recall the military to set up field hospitals to relieve overflowing hospitals: At the height of the outbreak last spring, France also had to transfer some patients to Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Austria. .
Macron had been reluctant to impose a new lockdown that would hit the economy again, and business bosses have warned that a shutdown will inevitably trigger another wave of layoffs and bankruptcies.
Geoffroy Roux de Bezieux, president of France’s largest employers’ federation, Medef, said the decision would cost between 50 and 75 billion euros of GDP and “would cause considerable economic and human damage.”
Bezieux said the infections were not occurring in stores but in homes, “however, it is they who are being penalized. I understand their dismay and anger.”
The president of the union representing local companies, Laurent Munerot, called the measures “difficult to understand and dangerous for a whole sector of the economy.”
And Roland Heguy, president of the hotel industry’s top union, also said his industry was being unfairly targeted, with 30 percent at risk of sinking.
“Things were already looking bleak, and now they’re getting bleaker,” said Gregoire Marcotte, a 28-year-old waiter in Paris’s 10th arrondissement, after Macron announced the closure.
“Hopefully this time it really works,” he said.
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