Paris (AFP)

After watching the snow fall, France began to apply a general curfew at 6 p.m. on Saturday, a new turn of the screw to which resigned traders comply, while France crossed the threshold of 70,000 dead on the same day.

More than 413,000 people have been vaccinated in France, according to a count communicated by the Ministry of Health.

In total, 70,142 people have died from the disease since the start of the epidemic, including 196 in the last 24 hours, according to the latest figures released Saturday by Public Health France.

Before the publication of these figures, the Prime Minister, visiting Lyon to promote the government's recovery plan, said that a million vaccination appointments had been made.

He called for a "calm" vaccination, acknowledging that the five million people over 75 years old could not be vaccinated "in a matter of days".

And while the government's "vaccine man", Prof. Alain Fischer, does not rule out the possibility of vaccinating children as well, elected officials continue to denounce the slowness of vaccine delivery or the difficulties in obtaining an appointment.

After the cold sweats caused by the announcement of a drop in rate "for three to four weeks" in vaccine production, the American group Pfizer, associated with the German laboratory BioNTech, announced on Saturday a "plan" to accelerate the pace and revert to the original schedule for deliveries to the EU "from the week of January 25".

In the meantime, the curfew at 6:00 p.m., already in force in 25 departments, now extends to the entire metropolitan territory and "for at least 15 days", as Mr. Castex announced Thursday.

Shortly after 6 p.m., the streets of Pantin, still partially covered with snow, gradually emptied, but were not yet deserted: customers rushed home with their shopping, families returned to their homes, a man was carrying his Christmas tree on a snowy sidewalk ...

Faced with the threat of new, more contagious variants of the coronavirus, the government needs to "further reduce social contacts at the end of the day".

The Mayotte prefecture confirmed on Saturday a first case of the South African variant and announced the suspension of international sea and air links for 15 days from Sunday.

- Reduced turnover -

The exemptions remain the same as before (business travel, for a medical appointment, for a compelling reason ...) but the businesses must now lower the curtain at 6:00 p.m.

Another bad news, a few days before the start of the sales, for shops but also for restaurants also closed until mid-February and which are trying to survive thanks to take-out sales.

"It's a hassle. Our turnover is reduced and we cannot open earlier than 9 am. Today the customers came as hard as possible, they come before closing", declared a few minutes before declining the curtain Vanessa A., saleswoman in a telephone and repair shop in Pantin, on the outskirts of Paris.

Usually, "most people come after 5pm, after work so it's not good for us. But we respect the government's decision, we prefer that to a re-containment," she confides.

Schools are open but indoor school and extracurricular sports activities are suspended and the health protocol in canteens will be reinforced.

- Obstacle course -

On Monday, the vaccination campaign will therefore be extended to people over 75 years old who do not live in nursing homes, as well as to people with high-risk pathologies (chronic renal failure, cancer under treatment, etc.).

Friday, 833 centers were "open and accessible for reservation", assured the Minister of Health Olivier Véran.

However, making an appointment, possible since Thursday morning, is sometimes akin to an obstacle course, even if "more than a million appointments were made on Friday", according to the Ministry of Health.

The sante.fr site, which was initially to redirect to one of the three private booking platforms, only displayed a list of vaccination locations by department on Saturday.

And the immunization windows of many centers were full by midday.

In the regions most affected by the epidemic, mayors such as François Rebsamen (PS) in Dijon or Anne Vignot (EELV) in Besançon denounced "the State's deficiencies in the delivery of vaccines", in a joint statement.

Traveling in the Allier, Mr. Castex replied: "Our fellow citizens would not understand that in the serious health crisis in which we find ourselves (...) we get lost in controversies and useless chicayas", has t -he affirmed, alongside the president (LR) of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region Laurent Wauquiez.

In Bordeaux, shortly after 6:00 p.m., around forty people dance and clap their hands while listening to a folk singer strumming his guitar brilliantly.

“Anything!” A woman says loudly, passing quickly.

For Cédric, 39, "it's funny to see this mini act of resistance from people who don't want to come home because the music is good, without rebellion and without anything political".

But at 6:15 p.m., four policemen on bikes come to end the party by letting the singer finish a Bob Marley track.

© 2021 AFP