Paris (AFP)

A week after a contested turn of the screw, the government on Thursday granted a reprieve to Paris and several metropolises, which remain threatened with the same fate as Marseille and to switch from next week to the maximum alert zone if the progression of the Covid -19 does not weaken.

The capital and its inner suburbs have "crossed the three thresholds which may correspond to the maximum alert zone", synonymous with radical restrictions such as the total closure of bars, restaurants and other activities, the Minister of Health announced on Thursday. , Olivier Véran, during a weekly update, at the Bichat hospital.

"If this were to be confirmed, we would have no other choice but to place Paris and the inner suburbs on maximum alert from Monday," added the minister.

The reprieve also applies to five other metropolises, where "the evolution of the last few days remains very worrying": these are Lille, Lyon, Grenoble, Toulouse and Saint-Etienne.

The minister defended himself from any differential treatment between the capital and Marseille, noting that the Marseille city had exceeded the thresholds longer than Paris when it was placed on "maximum alert".

- "Right balance" -

Faced with the trial of the lack of dialogue, Prime Minister Jean Castex took the lead Thursday by receiving in Matignon the mayors and presidents of several metropolises concerned, including Paris, Lyon and Lille.

"Unless the indicators deteriorate very sharply, we must leave a little time between the first measures taken last week" in these territories, such as the closure of bars at 10 p.m. and sports halls, "which came into force 4- 5 days, and the observation of the effects, "Jean Castex's entourage told AFP.

"We asked the Prime Minister, who accepted it, to give us 15 days from last Saturday, that is to say another 10 days, to check whether the measures that had been taken by the government (. ..) bear fruit "and translate into a reduction in the circulation of the virus, explained the mayor of Lille, Martine Aubry.

The main signals of the epidemic remain at a worrying level.

More than 1,200 people with Covid-19 are currently in intensive care in France, including 135 more in the last 24 hours, according to figures from Public Health France on Wednesday.

Admittedly, the level is much lower than those reached during the peak of the epidemic (7,000 patients in sheaves at the beginning of April), but it is progressing rapidly - there were less than 500 cases in intensive care at the beginning of September.

With 12,845 new cases of Covid-19 confirmed in 24 hours, the test positivity rate reached 7.6% against 4% in early September.

"If we want to preserve the rest of the hospitalization (...) the size of hospitals, the size of the services is not constantly expandable and we will have to make the balance, act on the places where we have a great promiscuity" , warned on RMC Karine Lacombe, head of the infectious diseases department at Saint-Antoine hospital in Paris.

But there is a "middle ground" to be found "before the reconfinement", she said.

- Legal respite -

In Ile-de-France, the occupancy rate of intensive care beds for patients with Covid-19 reached 35.3% on Thursday, above the critical threshold of 30%, according to the latest figures from the Regional Agency health (ARS).

The incidence rate (new cases over seven days) still exceeded the bar of 250 per 100,000 inhabitants in Paris - one of the criteria for switching to the maximum alert zone - at 261 Thursday, according to the ARS.

The turn of the screw decided last week by the government, the most important since the end of containment on May 11, angered the sectors concerned, already hard hit in the spring.

In the wake of the media chef from Bordeaux Philippe Etchebest, the Union des trades et des industries de l'hôtellerie (Umih) called on "all business leaders and their employees" to "make noise" in front of their establishment, every Friday and to display a "sign of mourning".

Professionals have also turned to justice for respite.

After setbacks Wednesday in Bordeaux and Marseille, the sports halls of Rennes won their case before the administrative court, which on Thursday suspended the closure of their establishments.

© 2020 AFP