A bar terrace in Paris, October 3, 2020. -

AFP

New turn of the screw in sight in the capital: faced with the progression of the Covid-19 epidemic, the government should announce on Sunday evening the closure of bars in Paris next week.

Restaurants still hope to escape it thanks to a reinforced health protocol.

The latest data from the Regional Health Agency (ARS) communicated on Friday leaves little hope.

Thursday, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran had granted a "reprieve" to Parisian cafetiers before placing Paris and its inner suburbs on "maximum alert", where Aix-Marseille and Guadeloupe are already located.

However, since then, the indicators have not improved.

The incidence rate still exceeded the 250 per 100,000 inhabitants mark in Paris on Friday - one of the three criteria for switching to the maximum alert zone - standing at 264 against 261 on Thursday.

The occupancy rate of intensive care beds for patients with Covid-19 was 34.8% in Ile-de-France, above the maximum alert threshold of 30%.

The health situation is "very serious" according to Anne Hidalgo

As for the third criterion, the incidence rate among those over 65, it also exceeded the critical threshold of 100. “I see no reason for denial.

The figures are there, they weigh heavily, ”commented Aurélien Rousseau, director general of the ARS Île-de-France, Sunday morning on Twitter.

Therefore, within the executive, there are few mysteries about the intention to close the bars, already forced for a week to lower the curtain at 10 p.m. in the capital.

"It is not acted since there is still work, discussion", indicated the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo Sunday in the Grand Jury RTL / LCI / Le Figaro, while acknowledging that the health situation was " very serious ".

If the worsening were to be confirmed, "we would have no other choice but to place Paris and the inner suburbs on maximum alert and this from Monday", had warned Olivier Véran Thursday, before declining the consequences: " no more family celebrations, no more parties and the total closure of the bars ”.

Restaurant owners have proposed reinforced health control

Restaurants still hope to escape this fate after proposing reinforced health control - collection of customer details, compulsory payment at the table and limitation of groups of diners to eight - on which the High Council of Public Health must decide.

The government has suggested that it will follow the advice of the court.

If it validates the protocol, restaurants can therefore remain “all or part” open, even in “maximum alert” areas, and therefore reopen in Aix-Marseille.

"There is no question of making differences in treatment because Paris and Marseille are placed from Monday in the same zone" alert, advance a government source.

Regarding the bars, the Parisian elected officials indicated that they would comply with any closure decision, which seems to exclude a sling wind like the one that had blown in Marseille last week.

The mayor of Paris announced that she would take stock on Monday at 11:30 am with the prefect of police, the prefect of the Île-de-France region and the rector to present “additional measures”.

Other cities in the sights

If Paris is on the front line, other large cities, such as Lille, Lyon, Grenoble, Toulouse and Saint-Etienne, could also soon switch to the red alert zone and be affected by the closures of bars.

For the sector, it is yet another hard blow.

According to the main employers' organization, Umih, around 15% of the 220,000 companies in the sector - cafes, bars, hotels, restaurants, brasseries, nightclubs - could go out of business in the coming months in France, and 220 to 250,000 employees find themselves unemployed.

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