Paris (AFP)
With more than 12,000 coronavirus deaths in France, containment surveillance will remain strict during the Easter weekend, at the end of which Emmanuel Macron will detail the consequences of this device which will continue.
Started on March 17, already 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.
"Above all, in the coming month, we must continue this effort with the same intensity, because it will not have to restart." The initial opinion of the Scientific Council, which advises Emmanuel Macron, was for confinement of "at least six weeks".
After having advanced to evoke the preparation for the deconfinement last week, Édouard Philippe turned back this week, stressing Wednesday that he was called "obviously to last some time still".
On this "Good Friday", the beginning of the holidays for some, the authorities fear again a relaxation, while the death toll now exceeds 12,000 dead in the country, even if the number of admissions to intensive care slows sharply.
- Train transfers -
After Paris and five other Ile-de-France departments, it is in Alsace, a region very affected by the virus, that any individual sporting activity will be prohibited during the day from the weekend. A similar measure was taken in Saint-Etienne.
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 also prohibited in Ardèche.
In Guyana, an Amerindian village was quarantined by prefectural decree after the discovery of an "epidemic center".
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 being transferred Friday morning to New Aquitaine to relieve hospitals in Ile-de-France.
The singer Christophe, hospitalized at the end of March for respiratory failure, is currently "in intensive care in Brest", his wife Véronique Bevilacqua told AFP. This one did not mention an infection with Covid-19 but according to the Parisian, the singer was indeed struck by the virus.
As part of the consultations on the epidemic, Emmanuel Macron was to meet Friday morning with the European leaders of his political family, then with the social partners.
With the European leaders, it is a question of exchanging "on the concrete measures to fight against the epidemic as well as on the economic and social measures which will be necessary to revive the economy", indicated the Elysée.
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".
Then Emmanuel Macron, surrounded by the Prime Minister and a few ministers (Labor, Health, Economy, Pensions ...), was to bring the social partners (unions and employers) together by audio conference call, for the second time in 15 days.
The objective is in particular to "ensure that the economic and social measures to support containment are effectively deployed" and to "prepare the release from containment when the health situation allows," according to the Elysee.
For his part, Edouard Philippe, is to hold a Friday afternoon meeting with the presidents of the parliamentary groups and another over the weekend with the party leaders.
- Masks -
In addition to the question of confinement, Emmanuel Macron is expected on Monday on controversies, in particular on the need or not for the widespread wearing of the mask.
"In the context of containment, we must ensure that people go out as little as possible. So the question of masks for the general population does not arise immediately", but only "in the context of the strategy of deconfinement "According to government spokeswoman Sibeth Ndiaye.
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. Results of which a certain number of doctors and scientists question the scope.
The Elysee Palace insisted that this meeting did not represent "recognition" of the teacher's method.
© 2020 AFP