The Arras center was already empty on March 4.

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DENIS CHARLET / AFP

Pas-de-Calais is experiencing its first weekend of new confinement this Saturday to stem the Covid-19 epidemic, "still worrying" according to Public Health France, against the backdrop of the acceleration of the national vaccination campaign.

Faced with the spread of the virus and variants, the government is counting on the extension of a measure already in force in the agglomerations of Dunkirk and Nice.

For more than two million people, this means a derogatory certificate for any movement, and the limit of 5 km and one hour around the home to take the air, on this sunny weekend.

It is also an additional difficulty for businesses in the Pas-de-Calais department, which like everywhere else were trying to catch up on Saturday sales that they do not achieve during the week by being forced to close at 6 p.m.

Non-essential ones with 5,000 m² or more of usable space have even been closed by prefectural decree.

Strong strain on hospital capacity

The executive justifies the measure by the strong tension on hospital capacities, filled to "90%" according to the prefect, and the prevalence of the English variant of the virus, more contagious and detected in more than two thirds of cases in the department.

With 149,307 cases detected during the last week of February (+ 7%) in France and nearly 3,700 Covid-19 patients in intensive care, the situation remains worrying.

"Territorial disparities are significant and require local adaptation of epidemic control measures," Public Health France recalled on Friday, with the regions "most affected" Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur, Hauts -de-France and Ile-de-France.

But according to the mayor (RN) of Hénin-Beaumont (Pas-de-Calais), Steeve Briois, the measure "has the effect of stigmatizing" the inhabitants, who are "punished and treated differently because the state accumulates failures ".

More vaccine doses for Pas-de-Calais

The executive insists on accelerating vaccination, with the goal of 10 million first injections in mid-April, 20 million in mid-May and 30 million this summer.

Currently, less than 3.4 million French people have received at least one dose.

Pas-de-Calais is opening new vaccination centers this weekend, with 7,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine and 3,500 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to be administered, as in Lens for example.

“Yesterday evening (Friday) it was panic, we only had one registered for 1,800 doses.

Since then, it has filled up and the doses should be used up, ”explained the Lens-Liévin agglomeration community.

But "the population is there, things are going well", confirmed this Saturday morning the mayor of Lens, Sylvain Robert (PS).

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