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France will enforce a curfew from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. starting Saturday in nine zones on high alert against the Covid-19 virus, President Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday night.
The curfew will continue until at least December 1.
Hours before, Macron presented a decree in the cabinet that restored the state of medical emergency, which was declared on March 23 and lifted on July 9.
The nine curfew zones are Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Grenoble, Lille, Montpellier, Rouen, St Etienne and Toulouse.
Public transportation and taxis will operate during curfew hours, and people will be allowed to work at night if necessary. Those who are outdoors without reason after 9:00 p.m. will be fined € 135 for the first offense, € 1,500 for the following.
“We are in the second wave,” Macron said. “The virus is circulating everywhere in Europe. Germany is taking action. The situation in Spain and the Netherlands is worse than here ”.
Macron said that 90 percent of the 33,037 coronavirus deaths in France have been people over the age of 65. Currently, more than half of the patients in intensive care units are under 65 years of age.
Some victims suffer long-term cardiac, digestive or other effects, Macron said. “We do not fully understand the virus. It is dangerous and serious for everyone. At the moment, we are seeing 20,000 new cases daily. Every day, another 200 citizens enter the intensive care units ”.
Macron said his goal is to reduce the number of new cases to between 3,000 and 4,000 a day. “We could handle that,” he said.
Unbearable pressure
A third of the beds in French ICUs are now occupied by Covid patients, which is creating unbearable pressure, Macron said. Last spring, the virus was geographically limited and patients could be transported to less affected regions, he said.
“Today, the virus is everywhere in France. There are no hidden reserves, ”Macron said. “Our medical staff is exhausted. We have no beds in reserve. That is why we must take the strictest measures. . . We hear people say, ‘Don’t take my freedom away.’ We are a nation of citizens. If I don’t put the brakes on, I endanger my father, my mother and my brothers ”.
Macron said working remotely was nice for those with country houses, but difficult for people in small apartments with children. Ideally, people should work remotely two to three days a week, to ease traffic and pressure on public transportation.
“We will not go to restaurants after 9 pm. We will not go to friends’ houses. We will not go to parties, ”Macron said. He praised the French for being “very responsible” during the closing of last spring.
Macron defended himself against accusations that his strategy has infantilized citizens. “We are all actors in this battle against the virus,” he said. “We need common rules. That is not infantilizing. All of our neighbors are doing it. “
Travel
In the run-up to the November All Saints holidays, there had been concerns that travel might be limited within France. It will not.
“Asking people to stay home and not take vacations would be disproportionate,” Macron said, asking citizens to observe the same precautions – face masks, social distancing and refrain from gestures of affection – when visiting family members. He also recommended that they ventilate enclosed spaces for 10 minutes three times a day and obey the “rule of six.”
Macron expressed his sympathy for the French youth. “It’s hard to be 20 in 2020,” he said. Young people have had their exams canceled. They are eager for training, to find their first jobs. “It’s normal to party with friends when you’re young. For a few weeks or months, we ask them to look less. “
Macron said that France now conducts between 1.2 and 1.4 million Covid-19 tests a day. She acknowledged that there have been long waits for tests and results, but said that is about to change because the new tests will give results in less than half an hour, and eventually there will be home test kits, similar to pregnancy ones.
On October 22, France will also issue a new version of its failed Stop Covid tracking app.
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