Paris (AFP)

"Stay at home!": With the sun shining on France and the start of the holidays, calls are multiplying for the French to respect confinement, at a time when patient transfers are continuing against a virus that has caused more 7,500 dead in the country.

Joggers in the midst of families on the banks of the Ourcq canal in Paris, passers-by on the streets in Marseille, children playing in groups in building courtyards ... in places, confinement is relaxed at the start Easter holiday.

In Morbihan, vacationers and secondary residents came with their families in the town of La Trinité-sur-Mer, indicates the daily Ouest-France which also reports the concerns of the mayor of Quiberon Bernard Hilliet about the arrival of new visitors .

"The deconfinement is not on the agenda, the deadline is not fixed", hammered the Secretary of State to the Minister of the Interior Laurent Nunez. "I remind you of the rule (...) we go out when it is strictly necessary," he added.

"It's the holidays, the weather is fine, don't give in to temptation, stay at home as much as possible", urged Valérie Pécresse, president of the Ile-de-France region, one of the most severely affected by the epidemic and where the "health system is completely saturated".

Earlier, the director general of the AP-HP Martin Hirsch deplored the presence of "too many people in the streets, too many strollers, too many walkers" in Paris, crossed by the carers going to their work.

In the Manche, the prefecture recalled that the beaches are forbidden access. Olivier Paz, mayor of the Norman commune of Merville-Franceville, railed on Twitter against "secondary residents (...) out of their confinement to come to Normandy".

In the Pyrenees, a reckless man who got lost trying to buy cigarettes in Spain had to be rescued by helicopter.

Since Friday, the start of school holidays in zone C, which brings together the academies of Ile-de-France and Occitania, more than 160,000 police and gendarmes have been mobilized. According to Mr. Nunez, 500,000 checks were carried out throughout France for the day alone on Saturday, out of 7.7 million since the start of confinement.

"The word deconfinement was pronounced too early" by the government, causing a "relaxation" in the population, regretted the boss of the deputies LR Damien Abad.

"I do not even understand that we are talking about deconfinement, it continues to happen constantly," lamented Nathalie (modified first name), nurse at the Kremlin-Bicêtre (Val-de-Marne), telling of completely overwhelmed services for patients.

- New transfers -

New Ile-de-France patients suffering from Covid-19 were to be transferred this Sunday to Brittany by medical trains, including a TGV which arrived in Rennes early in the afternoon.

In total, according to the DGS, more than 550 patients in critical condition have been evacuated since March 18, from Grand Est and IDF to less saturated regions.

Orly Airport has also been used to evacuate patients with Covid-19 to relieve congestion in Ile-de-France hospitals.

Confined since March 17 to fight against the expansion of the coronavirus, France has recorded an additional 441 deaths in the last 24 hours in hospital. With 2,028 deaths in nursing homes and other medico-social establishments, this brings the total of deaths to 7,560. Saturday, more than 6,800 people were in intensive care (176 more in 24 hours, a data in deceleration since the beginning of the week).

The virus has reached the archipelago of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon. Wallis-et-Futuna remains the only place in French territory saved.

The prospect of continued confinement beyond April 15 seems likely, but Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer said on Saturday that it was "impossible" to know when students could return to class.

- New delivery of masks from China -

While the debate on masks continues to rage, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran said Saturday that France had ordered nearly two billion masks from China. Airbus sent four million masks to Europe this weekend, including a portion for France.

The race against the clock to find a cure for the disease continues, and Tuesday will begin in France a clinical trial consisting in transfusing blood plasma from people recovered from Covid-19 - containing antibodies directed against the virus - to patients in acute phase.

Laboratories that are not normally authorized to carry out medical biology procedures (including departmental and veterinary laboratories) will also be able to "participate in the national screening effort" for the virus, AFP confirmed this weekend Ministry of Health.

On the economic level, the Minister of Finance, Bruno Le Maire, assured the Journal du Dimanche that The State would bring "the necessary financial means", recalling that it would guarantee up to 300 billion euros in bank loans, ie l equivalent to 15% of French GDP.

On a daily basis, we adapt to the new routine.

Thus the parish priest of Illiers-Combray (Eure-et-Loir), Olivier Monnier, continues to celebrate Mass alone, in front of his faithful connected via Skype, by hanging his phone on a candle stand.

Legally, the deed of sale of new or old accommodation can now be signed remotely using the electronic signature collected by the notary.

In addition to an already substantial audiovisual and virtual offer, a new ephemeral channel, called #ALaMaison, will be launched on Monday and will broadcast educational and family programs.

© 2020 AFP