Will France soon see the first effects of the reconfinement?
The question is on everyone's mind as contaminations continue to surge and the toll now exceeds 40,000 deaths since the start of the epidemic.
The first measures taken "have made it possible to have a form of slowing down of the progression of the epidemic but it is too early to judge the effect of the containment", estimated, Sunday, November 8, Olivier Véran on France Inter / franceinfo /The world.
He made an appointment at the end of next week or the beginning of the following week to "take stock" and announce if necessary "additional measures".
Pending this "review" of the device in mid-November, the government again ruled out on Sunday a targeted confinement for the elderly, its spokesman Gabriel Attal stressing in particular that this measure would be "ethically complicated".
>> To read on France 24: Reconfinement: "There is a general psychic wear because we do not see the end of this crisis"
"Today this is clearly not the scenario that we are considering" and "this is not our project", said Olivier Véran.
But he nevertheless refused to rule out "definitively" for the future such a hypothesis.
Questions about the end of year celebrations
As the holidays approach, Gabriel Attal for his part recognized that the French could not live a Christmas as usual.
But "we do not want a Christmas in video. We want the French to be able to celebrate Christmas as normally as possible", he assured.
According to data from Public Health France (SPF) on Saturday, 306 Covid-19 patients died in the last 24 hours, bringing the total death toll to 40,169.
With 4,410 patients in intensive care and intensive care, against 3,721 at the start of the week, the pressure is considerable on these hospital services.
The total reception capacity has been increased from 5,000 to 6,400 beds, with a target of 7,500 these days, which could be further raised to 10,500 beds.
The situation is tense in several regions: the first transfers of Covid-19 patients have been organized within the country, and, since Thursday and Friday, from the Grand Est region to Germany.
The number of new contaminations was not communicated on Saturday, after a computer traffic jam caused by the influx of tests, which had made their census incomplete in recent days.
Corrected data will be released on Monday by SPF.
More than 60,000 positive cases on Friday, a record
On Friday, the health agency reported a new record with more than 60,000 positive cases, twice the levels seen in mid-October.
Visiting caregivers in the Loire, a department where the health situation is the most degraded in France, Prime Minister Jean Castex repeated on Saturday that "the best thing is to prevent sick people from arriving at the hospital, rather than they are evacuated. And for that, there is no other solution than to strictly respect confinement and barrier gestures ".
"The situation is very worrying", facing a second wave "very violent", reaffirmed Saturday Olivier Véran in front of the deputies, who validated in a final vote the extension of the state of health emergency.
As in the spring, the Ministry of Health took measures to allow the continuity of treatment and care during confinement, but also the taking of contraception, the practice of medical abortions and opioid substitution treatments.
"Non-essential" businesses pending their reopening
On the economic front, four federations of downtown stores and shopping centers have asked the government to restrict online sales "to only basic necessities" and to ban "Black Friday", in an article published in the Sunday newspaper.
They are also asking to be able to reopen "non-essential" businesses from November 12.
The Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire for his part warns that a reopening "can only be considered with new health rules", in an interview with the same weekly.
This could be a raising of the welcome gauge or access to stores by appointment.
The State Council on Saturday upheld the ban on religious ceremonies with a large audience, while urging the government to clarify certain rules.
In addition, faced with insistent requests in the medical community for the closure of high schools and colleges, and anger in schools facing a health protocol deemed insufficient, the Minister of National Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, encouraged distance learning courses for high school students, while maintaining a minimum of 50% in class.
With AFP
The summary of the week
France 24 invites you to come back to the news that marked the week
I subscribe
Take international news everywhere with you!
Download the France 24 application
google-play-badge_FR