Pas-de-Calais will be the only one of the departments under reinforced surveillance to be confined at the weekend, should announce Jean Castex on Thursday.
Hospital pressure remains high in the HExagon, but the government says it hopes for a return to normal "mid-April".
For its part, Germany has just adopted a progressive deconfinement plan.
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Hospital pressure remains high in France, while Jean Castex is preparing to announce new health measures on Thursday.
Among them, the weekend confinement of Pas-de-Calais, but not of other departments placed under reinforced surveillance by the executive, such as Paris in particular.
With 87,542 bits of the coronavirus, an increase in intensive care admissions and the number of new cases over one week, the coronavirus continues to progress.
On the other side of the Rhine, Germany has just adopted a gradual deconfinement plan, which will begin with the reopening of non-essential stores, museums and memorial sites in the coming weeks.
For his part, Joe Biden calls for caution, criticizing the lifting of health measures in certain American states.
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The main information to remember
Pas-de-Calais will be confined over the weekend, Paris and Île-de-France escape it
The government spoke of a return to a more normal life "perhaps as early as mid-April"
Germany has adopted a gradual deconfinement plan
Pas-de-Calais will be confined over the weekend, Paris and Île-de-France escape it
The executive decided to confine the only department of Pas-de-Calais over the weekend, but neither Paris and Ile-de-France, nor any of the 20 departments placed under increased surveillance, said a government source.
On the other hand, additional restrictions will be applied in these departments, on a case-by-case basis and in consultation with local elected officials, in particular targeting places of mixing, added this source.
Prime Minister Jean Castex is due to announce these measures at his press conference on Thursday evening.
France totaled 87,542 deaths from the coronavirus on Wednesday since the start of the epidemic, or 322 more in 24 hours, according to figures published on the government site.
Hospital pressure remains high on the territory with in particular an increase in patients in intensive care.
Towards new restrictive measures before a return to normal "mid-April"?
20 departments, which cover in particular Paris, Lyon and Marseille, are still placed under increased surveillance by the government.
And the executive pointed out Wednesday 10 additional departments where the situation becomes delicate, at the end of a Defense Council which was held in the morning.
Emmanuel Macron and his government have several options on the table in the face of the progression of the coronavirus but are still hesitating on the measures to be adopted.
The only certainty: "We will have to take measures, we must find solutions," insists an adviser to the executive.
The French government says it hopes "a return to a more normal life (...) perhaps as early as mid-April", even if by then "weeks of heavy weather will take place", declared its spokesperson Gabriel Attal , specifying that Prime Minister Jean Castex will hold a press conference on Thursday.
France steps up on vaccination
To try to avoid a national reconfinement, the government is accelerating its campaign and extending the vaccination against Covid-19 as much as possible.
Two and a half million additional people thus become eligible, with the broadening of the criteria for benefiting from the AstraZeneca vaccine, following the encouraging results of studies carried out in the use phase in Great Britain.
Until now reserved for healthcare professionals and 2 million people aged 50 to 64 with comorbid conditions, this vaccine will now be offered to 65-75 year olds with these same pathologies.
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"In March, we should be able to offer 6 million additional first-time injections for the French, which will bring to 9 million the number of French people who will have received at least one injection at the end of March, and this will be even more in April ", for his part promised the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran.
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Easing in Germany
Germany will put in place a gradual and conditional deconfinement plan in the face of the Covid-19 epidemic from Monday, with in particular possible reopening of cultural places, Angela Merkel announced Wednesday evening.
Non-essential stores, museums, zoos, botanical gardens and memorial sites will thus be able to reopen in the coming weeks if the incidence remains below 100 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over a week, said the Chancellor, affirming with this five-step plan that the country was now entering "a new phase".
The federal republic will also authorize the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19 for people over the age of 65, following recent encouraging medical studies, Angela Merkel announced Wednesday evening.
Impact on child cancer care
Decrease in diagnoses, even interruption of treatments: the Covid pandemic has had a negative impact on services that treat childhood cancer around the world, in particular in less wealthy countries, according to a study published on Thursday.
"Our results suggest that the Covid-19 pandemic has had a greater impact on pediatric cancer care globally than studies focused on a single region suggested," commented Daniel Moreira, one of the authors. of this study published by The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health.
According to the study, more than three-quarters (78%) of hospitals surveyed between June and August 2020 assured that pediatric cancer care had been affected by the pandemic.
Biden urges caution
President Joe Biden strongly criticized on Wednesday the lifting of anti-Covid restrictions in certain American states, a controversy called to find echoes in other countries when they have managed to obtain the precious vaccines.
"The last thing we need is a prehistoric reasoning which says that everything is fine now, 'take off your masks', 'forget all about it'", launched the Democratic president, faithful to the message of caution he hammers on the subject of the pandemic.
More than 2.5 million dead
The pandemic has killed at least 2.54 million people around the world, according to a report established by AFP from official sources Wednesday in the middle of the day.
The United States is the country with the most deaths with 519,064 deaths, followed by Brazil (259,271) with a new 24-hour record announced Wednesday (1,910 dead), Mexico (187,187), India (157,346) and the United Kingdom (123,296).
These figures, based on the daily reports of the health authorities, without including the reassessments based on statistical bases, are generally underestimated.