Paris (AFP)

Government spokesman Gabriel Attal on Sunday ruled out confinement imposed on the elderly in order to curb the spread of the coronavirus epidemic, while wishing that the French should not celebrate Christmas "by video".

"There is no question for us of having an imposed confinement for the elderly", assured Mr. Attal, guest of the Great meeting Europe1 / LesEchos / Cnews, questioned on the sector of the population most affected by the coronavirus.

“First of all because ethically, it would be objectively complicated,” he said.

"Secondly, because it sometimes means ignoring the situation of many elderly people who do not live alone and who sometimes live with several generations of the same family in the same apartment", he added.

The spokesperson also recalled that 30% of people currently in intensive care are under 60 years old.

"We can see that, including with younger people, resuscitations could gradually become saturated," he said.

Mr Attal admitted that the situation of the elderly during the reconfinement this fall is "very difficult".

"They are often isolated," he said.

With the approach of the holidays, he admitted that the French could not live a Christmas as usual, while they have been subject to re-containment for a week to prevent the spread of the virus.

"But I will tell you things very clearly: we do not want a Christmas in video. We want the French to be able to celebrate Christmas as normally as possible", he assured.

"If we are taking difficult measures today, it is precisely to be able to live a Christmas with those close to them," he added, without however specifying "for the moment" under what conditions the French could celebrate Christmas.

Faced with the discontent of small closed shops, who fear competition from Amazon during the "black Friday" scheduled for November 27, Mr. Attal said that "discussions will take place this week under the aegis of the Minister of 'Economy, Bruno Le Maire ".

"The French government has already obtained from Amazon to remove its pre-campaign of the black Friday which was to start these days", he underlined.

"We have a little time to prepare for this deadline" of November 27, he added.

© 2020 AFP