Emmanuel Macron, at the Elysée on January 26, 2021. -

ELIOT BLONDET-POOL / SIPA

Will France experience a third confinement?

The umpteenth Covid-19 defense council which is being held this Wednesday at the Elysee Palace will mainly have to think about this question.

However, it should not lead to an announcement, the government leaving itself a few days to decide on new restrictions acceptable to the French.

"Is the curfew sufficient or not?"

This is the question we are asking, ”summarizes an adviser to the executive.

To respond, the government is waiting to be able to examine the results of two impact studies: one on the curfew at 6 p.m., the other on the progression of variants of the virus, full data of which is expected on Friday.

"An ambiguous period"

The next few days will therefore be "decisive", warned a government source.

Because "at this stage", there is "no reason" to decide on containment, said Minister of Industry Agnès Pannier-Runacher on Tuesday.

France "remains in an ambiguous period where the health situation is deteriorating but not exponentially", for its part sums up a framework of the majority.

As evidenced by the evolution of the daily data of the epidemic: the number of hospitalized patients continued to increase on Tuesday, to 27,005, including 2,006 patients who arrived during the previous 24 hours.

3,071 were in the intensive care unit against 2,829 a week earlier, according to Public Health France.

In addition, 352 additional deaths have been recorded in hospital over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths caused by the epidemic to 74,106 in France.

The English variant, particularly contagious, represented 9.4% of cases detected in Ile-de-France between January 11 and 21, according to doctors from the Public Assistance-Hospitals of Paris (AP-HP), for whom its progression augurs well for an upcoming "very significant" increase in the number of patients.

In an attempt to limit its spread, the defense council could consider new restrictions on international travel.

The government will also look into the "review clauses" fixed at the end of the month, such as the one on ski resorts, Jean Castex to receive elected officials and mountain professionals next Monday.

Do not "play with the nerves" of the French

In the meantime, the government is not trying to "play with the nerves" of the French, assured Tuesday Christophe Castaner, boss of LREM deputies, while "we can see that they are having more and more trouble with the restrictive measures" .

The acceptability of the measures has become a central issue for many politicians, concerned about the riots that have occurred in the Netherlands since the entry into force of a "simple" curfew on Saturday.

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