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PARIS: France reported a new record for daily coronavirus infections on Thursday (September 24), a day after the government announced new restrictions on bars and restaurants in major cities, prompting outcry from local politicians and locals. business owners.
Figures from Public Health France showed 16,096 people tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, a record, though experts warn that testing during the first wave of coronavirus in March-April captured only a fraction of the cases.
The centrist government of President Emmanuel Macron announced on Wednesday a series of new measures to try to curb the spread of the disease, including closing all bars and restaurants in Marseille and earlier closing times in Paris and elsewhere.
Faced with criticism from the mayors of Paris and Marseille, legal challenges and calls from some bar owners to challenge the new orders, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced more help for companies forced to close or restrict opening hours due to the new measures.
“There is no doubt that he will suffer the consequences of these health measures,” Castex told the owner of a Marseille restaurant who called France 2 television.
He said that the affected companies would be exempt from social charges and a partial unemployment regime would be extended until the measures are lifted.
He also asked all French citizens to show “responsibility” in the face of the growing number of cases.
“What I don’t want is for us to go back to March,” he said, referring to one of Europe’s strictest national closures in which the French had to fill out forms to leave their homes.
READ: Anger in Marseille after French government orders COVID-19 bars to close
Castex also admitted that it has not downloaded its own government’s StopCovid contact tracker app.
“Yes, I am pressuring the French to use it, but I am not,” he said on France 2, explaining that since he became prime minister in July, “unfortunately” he now comes across fewer people, in particular, he no longer takes the subway. .
Anger over closures
The southern port city of Marseille has been put on “high alert,” while Paris and 10 other cities are on “high alert,” the second level in a new sliding-scale system of infection control measures.
Public gatherings in all these cities, including Bordeaux and Lyon, have been limited to 10 people and attendance at major sporting events or concerts to 1,000.
The left-wing mayor of Marseille objected that he had not been consulted about orders to close bars, restaurants and sports facilities, and insisted that measures were taken locally to curb the outbreak.
“I’m angry because there was no consultation,” Mayor Michele Rubirola, herself a doctor, told Franceinfo radio.
“Why turn the screws when our numbers have been improving for a few days?”
The owners of restaurants, cafes and other businesses in Marseille said they would hold a protest against the new measures on Friday.
Bernard Marty of the UMIH union, which represents the hospitality industry, warned of the “insurrection” and several restaurant owners vowed to ignore the closure orders.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who will also see her gyms and other indoor sports facilities closed, said she had filed a formal protest.
“How will the fact that we can no longer exercise, while sport is an important part of staying healthy with a strong immune system help us?” Hidalgo asked on France 3 television.
The Paris hospital authority, AP-HP, said on Thursday that an influx of coronavirus patients was forcing it to begin canceling non-emergency surgery starting this weekend.
The number of coronavirus patients in Paris hospitals had more than doubled in three weeks, from 150 to 330, and would likely reach 600 by the end of the month, said deputy director Francois Cremieux.
The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care has followed a similar upward curve, from 50 three weeks ago to 132 on Wednesday and probably more than 200 next week, he said.
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