Paris (AFP)

A minister infected with the coronavirus, another feverish, the director of the president's cabinet confined to his home, the protection measures clearly reinforced at the Elysée and Matignon: the epidemic is approaching the summit of the state, forced to plan a continuity plan.

A highlight of the life of the executive, the Council of Ministers will be held well Wednesday morning at the Elysée Palace, but at least one participant will be missing: Franck Riester. The Minister of Culture was indeed diagnosed Monday "positive for coronavirus" and "placed in the fortnight" at his home, where he continues to "work remotely".

"I have like a flu, moderate fever, headache, but I'm fine!", Wanted to reassure the minister to BFMTV.

His Justice colleague Nicole Belloubet, "slightly feverish", canceled all of his meetings on Tuesday while awaiting the result of a screening test.

Emmanuel Macron, it has not been tested, "because it has no symptoms," says the Elysee.

"Our daily operations are strongly constrained," summed up an adviser to the Elysée, a few hours after the strengthening of protective measures around Emmanuel Macron.

No more meetings are organized in the offices of the Head of State. The objects he touches, such as pens, pads or files, are changed or cleaned. Overall "a space is maintained around it", explains the Elysée.

The closest collaborators of the Head of State must show increased vigilance: they must be more careful in transport, go less to the cinema or to the theater, etc. A business continuity plan has already been put in place, with a pair system.

Staff members who have been in contact with a "case contact" or who have visited a cluster are asked to work from home, as is the case with the president's chief of staff, Patrick Strzoda.

In addition to the "barrier measures" in place for ten days - no more hugging or hand shaking, etc. - meetings in offices are now prohibited and chairs more widely spaced. Dedicated meeting rooms are set up, with cleaning between each meeting. During a press briefing on Tuesday, the microphones no longer passed from hand to hand.

In addition, public visits to the Palace are suspended and guests reduced to the bare minimum.

- Ceremony maintained -

But Emmanuel Macron "does not intend to live confined to the palace" and "wants to continue to move". He went on Tuesday morning to the Samu call center in Paris, to the Necker hospital, where he met a few dozen people without approaching them too closely.

"The president's agenda is streamlined and streamlined so that he is able to oversee this major crisis as much as possible," said an adviser.

However, he chose to maintain the ceremony of homage to the victims of terrorism scheduled for Wednesday in Paris, where he must deliver a speech and award medals to the victims. This ceremony was reduced to 900 participants, below the 1000 mark as recommended by the health authorities.

In Matignon, similar measures have been taken. But there is no question for Edouard Philippe either of replacing face-to-face with videoconferences. "Life goes on. They are not sick. We are not going to digitize government life," said one of his advisers.

Matignon as the Elysée want to be reassuring on the continuation of the State. "We have concerns, but not about the continuity of the state," said the Prime Minister's entourage. "A minister who is sick, he has to work from home, he makes conf calls, he writes emails".

"If a minister is prevented from attending a ceremony, he can be replaced by his chief of staff, the secretary general ... I hope we will not have office heads to replace a minister but we have a little bit of leeway We hope that we will not have all the ministers and their replacements on the carpet, "smiled another adviser to the executive.

© 2020 AFP