Paris (AFP)

France still hoped Thursday to prevent "the dike loose" in the face of the Covid 19 epidemic, the economic consequences of which have been remembered in the country, with abysmal losses for the flagships of the aviation sector, rolled by the crisis.

With nearly 20,000 new confirmed cases per day over the last week, the progression of variants in several regions and still strong pressure on hospitals (more than 3,300 patients in intensive care), "the situation remains so fragile that nothing can be done. switch, "as government spokesman Gabriel Attal pointed out again on Wednesday.

But the plateau is maintained, and the executive sticks to its strategy: no re-containment, but no question of loosening the screw either.

The Minister of Health Olivier Véran should not make any new announcements during the traditional government meeting on Thursday, at 6:00 p.m.

No more than there had been on Wednesday, after the health defense council.

The greater contagiousness of certain variants, however, puts at risk the regions where they circulate, as in Dunkirk (North), where Dr Christophe Couturier, responsible for emergencies at the hospital warns: "We are clearly no longer on a wave, we are on what we can call a tide ".

And despite an "exemplary" mobilization of staff, the doctor simply fears "that the dike will loose".

The next two months will be delicate because "we are still in winter and we know that respiratory viruses like this period", indicated on France Inter the Swiss epidemiologist Didier Pittet, president of the national independent mission on the evaluation of the management of the Covid-19 crisis in France.

However, he said he was "optimistic" in the face of the latest figures for the epidemic in France, a "stable plateau", even if it is "relatively high".

- "Tournis" -

In addition to its health ravages, the epidemic has also hit whole swathes of the economy hard, as recalled by the astronomical losses announced Thursday by two flagships of the aviation sector, almost brought to a halt by the numerous restrictions on trips imposed for a year in an attempt to avoid the circulation of the virus.

More than seven billion euros for Air France-KLM!

Figures "which make you dizzy" for Frédéric Gagey, CFO of the Franco-Dutch group, which has lost two-thirds of its customers.

"Unprecedented impact," summed up the company when presenting its results.

A little over a billion for the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus, which manages to limit the damage caused by what its boss Guillaume Faury describes as "the most severe crisis experienced by the aerospace industry".

Faced with uncertainties for the future, the group will not pay a dividend.

Another affected area is culture.

Artists, intermittents, directors of establishments and now local elected officials, the discontent spreads following the long months of closure, with no clear future prospect.

After Perpignan, where the mayor RN Louis Aliot saw his reopening of municipal museums rebutted, the administrative justice, seized by the representatives of the State, must rule Thursday on that of the Issoudun museum, decided by the mayor (PS) André Laignel, also vice-president of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF).

Decisions that fall under "demagogy", tackle Aurore Bergé, deputy president of the LREM group in the National Assembly, who said on LCI "hope" for a reopening "as quickly as possible" of cinemas, theaters and museums.

On the vaccination front, the best hope of returning to a normal life, 2.406 million first injections have been administered since the start of the campaign, at the very end of December, and some 923,000 second injections.

Coverage extends to elderly people in nursing homes, the priority target for vaccination: as of February 15, 73.5% of them had received at least one dose, and 32% had received both.

© 2021 AFP