Covid-19 in France: a worsening situation, Macron facing pressure from mayors
Taking stock of the Covid-19 epidemic is the objective of this new health defense council which will take place by videoconference.
Emmanuel Macron at the helm, the Prime Minister and the ministers concerned will assess the health situation in France.
Thomas Coex AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
Since the end of his isolation after contracting the Covid-19 virus, Emmanuel Macron has been in Brégançon.
It is from his vacation home that the Head of State will lead a health defense council, two days before his speech on December 31, while several mayors are calling for a strengthening of health measures.
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Taking stock of the Covid-19 epidemic is the objective of this new Health Defense Council which will take place by videoconference.
Emmanuel Macron at the helm, the Prime Minister and the ministers concerned will assess the health situation while
the vaccination campaign has just started
in France and the circulation of the virus is a source of concern.
Several local elected officials in the Grand Est and Alpes-Maritimes in particular, where the epidemic has reached alarming levels, are asking the government to take measures very quickly with local re-containments or an acceleration of vaccinations.
Mayors demand quick decisions
Act immediately, without waiting for the start of the school year.
The day after the first vaccination in an Ehpad in the Paris region, Christian Estrosi, the mayor Les Républicains de Nice is pushing for an acceleration of the schedule in his department where the incidence rate is twice the national average.
“
There cannot be any first vaccinations in Ile-de-France and that with us it starts in eight days.
They have to start right away in our department.
"
Arnaud Robinet
, mayor Les Républicains of the city of Reims in the Grand Est, where the incidence rate, positivity and hospitalization are skyrocketing, requests a third confinement to avoid a third wave, and this as of now.
“
Today, I think it's the right time, the shops have been able to reopen, the Christmas shopping has been done, the bars and restaurants are closed.
Let's take advantage of this period to slow down the progression of Covid-19 and invest in 2021.
"
The Élysée wants to wait until the start of the school year
At the Élysée, it is explained that it is still too early to make such decisions, that the appointment is fixed at the beginning of the year, around January 7, after the Council of Ministers of re-entry.
By then, Emmanuel Macron is due to deliver a speech on December 31, the evening of New Year's Eve under curfew.
This will give the traditional exercise of wishes to the French a particular tone in the unprecedented context of a pandemic which has struck the President of the Republic himself.
Still recovering after contracting the virus, Emmanuel Macron remains in a state of health watch.
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To read: Covid-19 in France: the government is considering the hypothesis of a third confinement
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France
Emmanuel Macron
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Health and medicine
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