Paris (AFP)
Édouard Philippe told the National Assembly on Tuesday that confinement to fight the spread of the coronavirus would "last", deeming "very largely premature" any question on the conditions of the deconfinement.
"Today is the time for containment and the time for containment will last," said the Prime Minister during the questions to the government.
The head of government responded to the deputies as France enters its fourth week of confinement, fixed until April 15 for the moment.
"It is quite difficult for many French people to bear, I am perfectly aware of this, but it is essential if we do not want to find ourselves in a situation that would be worse than the one we know today" , he continued.
"Today, the imperative is to ensure that containment works, that the virus circulates slowly enough so that the number of severe cases which justify admission to intensive care units does not exceed global capacities of our hospital system, "he argued in response to a question on deconfinement.
Questions about deconfinement "are very largely premature," he said. "We will discuss the essential elements when the hypotheses on which we are working will be verified, the scenarios will be written".
Asked on RTL about wearing protective masks, which some mayors in particular wish to make compulsory, government spokesperson Sibeth Ndiaye said that "in the crisis we are living in, we need to have a lot of humility" and that the government consults scientists on this point in order to reach a "consensus".
"When have done politics", "we are a human being, we can be led to make mistakes, I readily admit it", she added, asked about the attacks to which she was subjected, especially after claiming that the masks were not "useful" or even "counterproductive" for those who do not know how to wear them.
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