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France’s Health Minister has said the city of Nice and the surrounding Alpes-Maritimes department are facing a partial lockdown or even tighter curfew, following an increase in the number of new coronavirus infections in recent years. days.
Olivier Véran said that decisions on further tightening the limits to the movements of people will be made during the weekend.
“There are some cities and areas in France where the virus is circulating much faster than elsewhere and this may require regional confinement measures,” the Health Minister said during a visit to a health center in Nice.
The Alpes-Maritimes department has the highest rate of Covid-19 infection in metropolitan France, with around 600 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. In Nice, the capital of the department, that rate rises to 751 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, three times the maximum alert threshold, with a positivity rate of 10.3 percent compared to 6 percent nationally.
“Around 500 people get sick from Covid-19 every day in Nice,” Véran said. “I ask the prefect of police to continue discussions with all local officials so that at the end of the weekend we can decide on additional measures to protect the population of the Alpes-Maritimes. This could mean a tighter curfew or even a closure partial or total. ”
The French government has previously used local curfews and closures in other areas, but has generally preferred measures at the national level.
“If the government decides that we have to do a partial blockade, on weekends, for example, I will support and encourage it,” said Christian Estrosi, the conservative mayor of Nice, who accompanied Véran on his visit.
After a second national shutdown in November, France imposed an 8 p.m. curfew across the country, which was reduced to 6 p.m. in mid-January.
Véran said the national trend for coronavirus infections had worsened in recent days.
France reported 24,116 new infections on Friday, an increase from almost 4,000 the previous Friday. The seven-day average of new infections rose above 19,000 a day after falling to around 18,300 a week ago.
France also reported 571 new deaths from the virus, bringing the cumulative death toll to nearly 84,000.
(with Reuters)
