Paris (AFP)
The confinement hardens on Friday in certain regions of France, before the Easter weekend at the end of which Emmanuel Macron will detail the consequences of this device which will continue.
Begun on March 17, extended once, the confinement will continue after next Tuesday, warned the Elysee. Until when? The head of state could address the issue in his speech Monday evening, his fourth since March 12.
"The containment works," said Friday Arnaud Fontanet, epidemiologist at the Pasteur Institute and member of the scientific council Covid-19, on RMC.
Edouard Philippe, after talking about the preparation for deconfinement last week, stressed on Wednesday that he was "obviously (...) going to last a while longer".
On Good Friday, the beginning of the holidays for some, prefects have tightened confinement, while the death toll now exceeds 12,000 dead in the country, even if the number of admissions to intensive care slows sharply.
- One adult per family -
In Corsica, "only one adult per family" can do their shopping for one hour per store, in addition to reinforced controls on beaches and places to walk.
In Nice, nine of the poorest districts are subject to a curfew from 8 p.m. instead of 11 p.m., the town hall claiming a "non-compliance with the rules".
In Paris, Alsace or Saint-Etienne, individual sports are more strictly supervised.
There is no question of offering a getaway on the Blue Coast or in the Alpilles: in the Bouches-du-Rhône, where the holidays begin, containment controls will be reinforced on the coast, on the motorway and in the massifs.
Group outings are prohibited in Ardèche.
The human toll has been at least 12,210 dead since the beginning of March, including 8,044 in the hospital, or 412 more than 24 hours, and the rest in particular in nursing homes (Ehpad).
Nearly 50 coronavirus patients were transferred to Nouvelle-Aquitaine on Friday to relieve hospitals in Ile-de-France.
In addition, the singer Christophe is "in intensive care in Brest", said his wife Véronique Bevilacqua to AFP. This one did not mention an infection with Covid-19 but according to the Parisian, the singer was indeed struck by the virus.
- Rethinking the economic model -
As part of the consultations on the epidemic, Emmanuel Macron and Edouard Philippe continued discussions, at European and French level.
They discussed at the end of the morning by audio conference with employers and union officials, for the second time in 15 days after a first meeting on March 26.
Emmanuel Macron also participated in a 1.5 hour videoconference meeting with Heads of State and Government and European Commissioners linked to the Renew Europe group, of which En Marche is a member of the European Parliament.
This meeting takes place a few hours after the agreement reached between the European finance ministers on a common economic response. The Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire welcomed a recovery plan including "500 billion euros available immediately".
Eleven European environment ministers, including France, have called for post-epidemic coronavirus recovery plans to take into account environmental and climate issues.
In France, the Citizens Climate Convention (CCC) calls for "a different, more human and more resilient economic and societal model". Economists, including Thomas Piketty, call for "a fairer social and fiscal contract".
Édouard Philippe is scheduled to hold a meeting on Friday afternoon with the presidents of the parliamentary groups and another meeting over the weekend with the party leaders.
In addition to the question of confinement, Emmanuel Macron is expected on Monday on the need or not for the general wearing of a mask.
For government spokeswoman Sibeth Ndiaye, the question only arises "in the context of the deconfinement strategy".
Also as part of his consultations, Emmanuel Macron visited Thursday the controversial Marseille professor Didier Raoult, herald of the treatment with hydroxychloroquine against Covid-19.
The infectious disease specialist presented him with the latest study from his services, which he says confirms the effectiveness of the derivative of chloroquine, a drug against malaria, as soon as the first symptoms of the coronavirus appear.
Just over 1,000 patients received this treatment for "at least three days". Ten days later, more than nine out of ten had zero viral load, according to the research institute in Marseille.
But epidemiologists criticize the absence of a control group receiving placebo and bias, study participants with less severe forms of the disease.
© 2020 AFP