Paris (AFP)

France entered its penultimate day of confinement on Saturday and reminders to comply with barrier gestures are increasing before the start of deconfinement on Monday, in order to avoid a second wave of the coronavirus epidemic which has killed more than 26,000 people .

A large majority of the population is preparing to emerge from two months of confinement, an unprecedented and generally respected measure throughout the territory, allowing a clear decrease in the epidemic, according to the authorities.

On the night of Friday to Saturday, the National Assembly voted at first reading the bill extending the state of health emergency until July 10 and which incorporates measures related to progressive deconfinement from Monday.

According to the last official report Friday evening, 26,230 people have died from the coronavirus since March 1, or 243 more in the last 24 hours, including 9,733 in medico-social establishments and nursing homes (+132).

The pressure on intensive care units continues to ease, with 93 patients with Covid-19 disease reduced, or 2,868 serious cases.

This maintains 32 departments in total and nearly 27 million inhabitants in a still very controlled regime.

And in the rest of the country, in green on the map, "you have to be careful not to think that everything is settled, that there is no longer any need to wash your hands, that you can kiss, etc. . ", warned on Franceinfo the virologist Marie-Paule Kieny, member of the Research and Expert Analysis Committee (Care) responsible for advising the government.

- "Smother the virus" -

To avoid a new outbreak of the epidemic, "it is absolutely necessary" that people "apply barrier gestures, that is to say that they move from confinement at home to confinement on oneself, thinking that oneself -Even we must protect ourselves, we must protect others ", insisted this former Assistant Director-General of WHO.

"We need to find oxygen so that, in the event that a second wave arrives, we are ready. We have three to four weeks ahead of us, we must take advantage of them to free up or even create beds resuscitation ", said on his side on TF1 Philippe Juvin, head of the emergency department of the Parisian hospital Georges Pompidou.

"The situation remains tense, we have little room for maneuver," he warned.

While loosening the noose, the government maintains or introduces many obligations, among which the wearing of masks in public transport under penalty of 135 euros fine.

The state will also make from Monday "10 million masks available to transport operators to distribute them to their users", including 4.4 million for the Ile-de-France region, according to Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner.

The situation looks particularly delicate in this region where compliance with the rules of distancing in public transport will drastically reduce its capacity.

Sixty out of 302 Paris metro stations will remain closed and an employer certificate will be required to operate during peak hours (from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.) in Ile-de-France networks.

In Ile-de-France, "you have to bite the bullet for three more weeks", a decisive phase "to know if we are able to stifle the virus," Aurélien Rousseau, director general of the Regional Agency, told Parisien health.

On the economic front, deconfinement began on Friday at SNCF for mainline trains, with a restart of service at 20%. Again, with the wearing of a mandatory mask.

© 2020 AFP