Paris (AFP)

The February holidays, which raise fears of increased circulation of the Covid-19, should give rise to "less population movements" than those of Christmas, declared Sunday the Minister for Transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari.

In 2020, "if we look at transport, it is a good indicator of the movement of populations, we did about 85% of a normal summer and 70% of a normal Christmas in terms of traffic," said M Djebbari on LCI.

"We know very well that we will still do 30% less for the February holidays" which began on Saturday for zone A, "compared to Christmas, in number of passengers", according to him.

During these winter holidays, "three trains out of four" will run and they should be "on average 60% full", he said.

"These are vacations that start off fairly calmly, which also reflects the fact that the French go more with their families, rather not very far (...) we find the usual destinations, on the Atlantic side, south-east of France ".

As a result, "we have much less population movements, so we can also expect less mixing," said the minister.

"The French today are fully aware of and practice social restrictions, are extremely vigilant vis-à-vis their elders," he said.

Mr. Djebbari also counted "more than 153,000 controls" at the borders carried out "in a week".

To go abroad or come from abroad, the government imposes a negative PCR test and in addition a certificate of "compelling reason" for countries outside the EU.

And air traffic "already divided by five before these measures, has been further halved, which makes these measures very effective," he said.

As for traffic to overseas, "it has decreased by 70%" and for lack of being able to prove a "compelling reason" to go there, "some 700 people" were "refused boarding".

The government is counting on maintaining a strict curfew from 6 p.m. nationwide and on the holidays that began on Saturday in the first academies - with less social interaction and the widespread closure of schools until to March 8 - so that the health situation remains under control.

© 2021 AFP