Paris (AFP)
Prime Minister Jean Castex will hold a press conference at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday on "the application of measures to combat" the Covid-19 epidemic, which continues to progress worryingly on French territory, Matignon said on Wednesday.
The Head of Government will be accompanied by Minister of Health Olivier Véran, who usually holds these weekly press briefings, Minister of Culture Roselyne Bachelot and Secretary of State Cédric O, six days after the introduction of a cover nocturnal fire in several large metropolises, including Paris.
Jean Castex is thus back on the front line when, for the first time since May, the total number of Covid-19 patients currently in intensive care exceeded the 2,000 mark on Monday evening.
It is still far from the peak of the epidemic, when more than 7,000 Covid-19 patients were in shifts.
But more than 150 serious cases enter these peak services every day and they were 278 more on Tuesday.
The government has warned that the curfews, decided in several metropolises including Paris from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. will not have effect for two to three weeks.
In the meantime, the contamination figures are soaring.
Thus, the incidence rate, or the number of new cases over seven days per 100,000 inhabitants, exceeds the maximum alert threshold (250) in 22 departments as of October 16, against 10 a week earlier - and only one two weeks earlier. before, according to the data available on Public Health France.
At its highest in some cities affected by the curfew, such as Saint-Etienne (716), Lille (675), Lyon (582), Grenoble (460), the incidence rate is also on the rise in Clermont-Ferrand (322), Tours (237) or Nantes (194).
In the Strasbourg Eurometropolis, where it is now close to the maximum alert threshold, the incidence rate "doubles every week", notes the Regional Health Agency of Grand Est.
© 2020 AFP