Marseille (AFP)
Emmanuel Macron arrived Thursday afternoon in Marseille to meet with Professor Didier Raoult to take stock of treatments against the coronavirus, said the Elysée.
The head of state was received around 3:45 p.m. at the Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire (IHU) Méditerranée where the defender of a controversial treatment against Covid-19 using a chloroquine derivative works.
This trip, which had not been announced, takes place without a journalist, like the one made in the morning by the president to the Kremlin-Bicêtre hospital (Val-de-Marne) to meet hospital-university teams involved in the clinical research on the coronavirus.
These visits are part of the consultations conducted by Emmanuel Macron before the televised speech he plans to make Monday evening, in particular to confirm the extension of the confinement.
The Elysee Palace explained on Wednesday that the president was going, before this meeting with the French, "to consult a large number of public and private actors, French, European and international, in order to exchange with them on the major issues relating to the Covid-19 and prepare the decisions to be announced to the French on Monday. "
Become one of the main personalities of the crisis, Professor Raoult published two studies on hydroxychloroquine (derivative of chloroquine, a drug against malaria, editor's note) which prove, according to him, the "effectiveness" of this treatment against the coronavirus. But many scientists find it impossible to draw this conclusion on the basis of these studies alone, because of the way they are developed.
The professor is supported by a certain number of politicians, including Bruno Retailleau, the boss of the senators LR, who reacted in a tweet as of the announcement of the visit of Emmanuel Macron, by saying to hope that it "will accelerate the recognition of his treatment with chloroquine against the virus ".
© 2020 AFP