Paris (AFP)

The Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, announced on Saturday that he would ask "Ehpad-type establishments to go towards individual isolation" for each of their residents in order to "go further" in the protection of the elderly against the coronavirus.

Mr. Véran will also ask to "test in priority for the virus the staff who work within the Ehpad", the accommodation establishments for dependent elderly, he said during a press conference, alongside of Prime Minister Édouard Philippe.

"I will ask Ehpad-type establishments to prepare to move towards individual isolation of each resident in the rooms," said the minister. Because, after the blue plan, "we must go further to protect these particularly fragile elderly people and make even more difficult decisions".

Already, "some establishments" practice this isolation in a single room to "protect residents of nursing homes from the spread of the virus," he said.

And "wherever possible, I will encourage any approach so that the staff who work tirelessly already in nursing homes can as little as possible leave these establishments to take the least risk of coming back with the virus", said he added.

The elderly people housed in nursing homes "are fragile, already sick, the most at risk from viral disease, and in particular the coronavirus," said the minister. There are in France "more than 700,000 elderly people with loss of autonomy" housed in "more than 7,000" nursing homes, he said.

"The blue plan allowed us to take difficult measures humanely", with "the prohibition of visits, the removal of families, identification wherever possible within the nursing homes of areas dedicated to patients with coronavirus ", he noted, noting that he had" committed to destocking every day 500,000 surgical masks "for these establishments.

To distribute the masks to Ehpad, "we will rely more on the departments and their own distribution networks to be able to route more simply and more quickly" these masks, said the minister.

Mr. Véran also "wrote a circular to regional health agencies to ensure an adapted care route for residents of nursing homes".

For "very elderly, very fragile patients, resuscitation is complicated, it is complicated to put them in a coma, mortality is very high", he stressed.

"For the less serious forms, which have oxygen needs, sometimes there is oxygen and medicines on the spot", "sometimes it is not possible and I ask that within each territory of health be identified a way of admission (to the hospital) of elderly patients from Ehpad sick with coronavirus, "said the minister.

"At the same time, I ask to further develop the support by mobile teams to come to nursing homes to help the sick elderly," he added.

Mr. Véran also mentioned the "frail elderly" who stayed at home, also numbering 700,000, who "also suffer the full force of isolation".

"We must be very careful of frail elderly people at home, limit visits to the strict minimum," he said.

© 2020 AFP