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Paris and its suburbs will move to a high-alert zone with new restrictions, which will be revealed on Monday, due to the increase in coronavirus cases but restaurants will remain open, the prime minister’s office announced on Sunday to AFP.
The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgowill specify these “mandatory measures” on Monday morning at a press conference, which will last 15 days and will affect the capital and its three bordering departments.
They will come into force on Tuesday and it is taken for granted that it entails the closure of cafeterias, as is already the case in the port city of Marseille (south) and on the island of Guadeloupe, in the Caribbean.
This government decision is based on worrying data from the weekend that confirm a downward trend in the three basic indicators of the pandemic.
This is the incidence rate of the disease among the general population, the proportion among the elderly and the rate of occupation of resuscitation beds by covid-19 patients.
The Minister of the Interior, Gerald darmanin, acknowledged that the closure of bars and cafes would be “hard” for everyone.
“We are French, we like to drink, eat, live, smile and kiss,” he told LCI television and Europe 1 radio on Sunday.
“We like to drink”
“But we are also doing it because people want us to do it,” he added.
BFM television published a poll on Sunday according to which 61% of the inhabitants of Paris and its suburbs are in favor of closing the bars, which can currently stay open until 10pm.
The restaurateurs obtained “a reinforced sanitary protocol applicable in the zones of reinforced alert and in areas of maximum alert, which allows that the restaurants remain open”, emphasized the office of the prime minister.
The government will specify the modalities of this protocol on Monday, which implies new restrictions.
This measure should facilitate the reopening of restaurants in Marseille (south), amid a strong mobilization of the sector.
The prime minister’s office also announced that university classrooms and amphitheaters will only be able to fill up to 50% of their capacity in high and high alert zones.
Finally, and given the increase in the circulation of the coronavirus, the government recalled the need to privilege telework “more than ever” in these areas.
Other large cities, such as Lille (north), Lyon (southeast), Grenoble (southeast), Toulouse (south) and Saint-Etienne (east), where the health situation continues to be worrying, could also soon be declared a red alert zone.
France reported 16,972 new coronavirus cases on Saturday alone, the highest daily number since the country began conducting widespread testing.
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