Olivier Véran, February 4, 2021 in Paris.

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AFP

The third confinement, which was feared two weeks ago in the face of the Covid-19 epidemic, has not taken place.

And it might never happen.

In any case, this is a possibility that the Minister of Health raised on Tuesday, interviewed on Franceinfo.

"It is obviously possible and desirable that we never be re-defined", declared Olivier Véran, judging that the current measures "make it possible to stabilize the health situation".

“I want the French to be freed.

Containment is not a choice of ease, it is a choice of necessity, ”he explained.

Reconfinement always possible

Variants "are increasing by around 50% per week, which is slower than countries that were not under curfew."

So there is an effectiveness of the measures decided which make it possible to stabilize the health situation ", detailed Olivier Véran, ensuring that the health authorities would not be taken by surprise if" we returned to an exponential form "," since we are looking at the everyday things ”.

However, the situation remains fragile and the possibility of re-containment is still on the table.

"If the situation were to change in seven, ten, fifteen days or three weeks, in this case we would obviously always take the decisions to protect the health of the French," insisted the Minister of Health and Solidarity.

After two weeks of curfew at 6 p.m., still in force, the government gave up at the end of January to impose a third lockdown.

Reflux and school holidays

But he had tightened restrictions on travel abroad, border controls and added the closure of large shopping centers of more than 20,000 m2 to that, already underway since the end of October, bars, restaurants and cultural places.

According to data from Public Health France, 121,932 cases of Covid-19 were detected between Monday and last Friday, a very slight decline compared to the same days the previous week (126,826).

The executive hopes that the school holidays, which started on Monday for part of France and will last until March 6, will slow the circulation of the virus.

But epidemiologists fear that the British variant will cause the epidemic to rebound too strongly, when the hospital burden is already high.

About 28,000 Covid-19 patients were hospitalized on Monday, including more than 3,300 in intensive care, while 7,000 patients were in its departments at the peak of the first wave, on April 8, and 4,900 at the peak of the second, on November 16.

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