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French Prime Minister Jean Castex warned today that the country is seeing a ‘clear worsening’ of its coronavirus outbreak.
Nearly 10,000 new cases were reported yesterday, a record since full-scale testing began, but Castex said a recent spike in Covid-19 hospitalizations was particularly concerning.
Despite the spike in cases, Castex said its goal would be to avoid a new nationwide lockdown that would further hit the economy.
From his residence in Paris, in a televised statement, Castex said that there is a “clear worsening” in France of the spread of Covid-19 that “has not decreased in intensity” and “will continue with us for a few months.”
“We have to be successful in living with this virus, without going back to the idea of a generalized lockdown,” Castex said.
‘Our strategy is not changing. We must fight the virus without stopping our social, cultural and economic life, the education of our children and our ability to live normally ”, he added.
Medical personnel with protective equipment perform tests for Covid-19, today in Venissieux, near Lyon, amid the new coronavirus pandemic
This image from a television screen shows French Prime Minister Jean Castex as he talks about the coronavirus situation during a press conference at the Hotel Matignon in Paris today.
Castex said 42 of the 101 departments in France are now classified as ‘red zones’ where the virus circulates rapidly, compared to 28 earlier this week.
“There is no Maginot Line, it inevitably ends up reaching the most vulnerable,” he said, referring to the supposedly unbreakable defenses that France built before World War II.
But he did not announce any major new restrictions, urging people to adhere to social distancing guidelines and wearing face masks.
And the quarantine period for people who contract the virus will be shortened from 14 to just seven days, to better match “the period when there is a real risk of contagion,” he said.
The move is a tacit acknowledgment that enforcing quarantines has been nearly impossible given the number of new cases.
Castex also said that testing capabilities would increase in response to long wait times for appointments and results.
Priority cases involving people with confirmed exposure to Covid-19 patients or already showing symptoms will receive reserved spots at the testing centers, and an additional 2,000 people will be hired to conduct contact tracing.
Officials are increasingly concerned about the high number of infections in France, even as the death toll and intensive-care admissions are well below the highs recorded in March and April.
The Health Ministry said 9,843 new coronavirus infections were recorded on Thursday, the highest number since large-scale testing began.
The total death toll in France from the pandemic now stands at 30,813.
The head of the scientific council that advises the government on the pandemic, Jean-Francois Delfraissy, said on Wednesday that the government will soon have to make “difficult” decisions to stop the outbreak.
People at high risk due to old age or health problems like diabetes, obesity, and respiratory problems may need a protective “bubble” around them, for example.
There was a danger of a “very rapid exponential rise” in some places, Delfraissy said, highlighting the French Riviera and Provence regions.
Castex himself is in a seven-day period of self-isolation, having spent part of last weekend with Tour de France boss Christian Prudhomme, who tested positive for Covid-19. Subsequently, Castex was deemed virus free after initial testing.
The French government announced yesterday that it will pay parents to stay home if schools are forced to close due to an increase in coronavirus cases.
Paris revealed that it will pay 84 percent of a parent’s salary in each household with a child under the age of 16 if its school is forced to close due to the virus.
French President Emmanuel Macron, accompanied by the Mayor of Bonifacio, Jean Charles Orsucci, today visits Bonifacio, on the Mediterranean island of Corsica, France. President Macron said today that he hopes the new measures are not too restrictive.
The announcement comes after infection groups have sprung up across the country since schools reopened on September 1. The groups have already led to the closure of 34 schools and the cancellation of 500 separate classes.
Payments will be delayed until September 1, The Times reports, adding that the French government has also announced an extension of its licensing plan for companies in difficulty.
Since the beginning of the month, new cases have increased by 7,292 each day on average, a number that surpasses the previous record daily average of 3,003 seen in August.
After hitting a low of 4,530 on August 28, the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 is trending up again, rising from 93 in the past 24 hours to 5,096, the highest total in more than a year. month.
However, hospitalizations for the disease are still more than six times lower than the April 14 peak of 32,292 and the number of ICU patients is well below the April 8 record of 7,148.
The rise in infections has mainly affected young people who are less likely to develop complications from the virus. So far there has been less tension in French hospitals, which were almost overwhelmed at the end of March.
The number of hospitalizations has skyrocketed for 12 days in a row. The number of patients in intensive care units stands at 615, a level not seen since the end of June.
The hospital figures are still a long way from the peaks reached in April, but they create a new strain on the hospital system that could lead authorities to take action.
France’s decision to subject the country to one of the strictest lockdowns in Europe between March 17 and May 11 was dictated by the need to prevent the hospital system from being overwhelmed.
President Emmanuel Macron said yesterday that he hoped any new measure would not be too restrictive.
“What we have to do is adapt to the evolution of the virus and try to stop its circulation with hygiene measures and adapting our social life,” he said yesterday during a visit to Corsica.
“We need to be able to continue living, educate our children and care for other patients and illnesses, and have a social and economic life.”
According to The Times, Macron added that the lockdown measures would be implemented regionally, not nationally.
France has the seventh highest death toll from COVID-19 in the world.
