Paris (AFP)

The government is still looking for ways to counter the progression of variants of the virus, while the bad economic news follows one another, recalling that the Covid-19 epidemic does not strike only at the health level.

The progression of these variants, more contagious, worries in several regions, as in Moselle, around Dunkirk (North), or in Reunion, for which the government announced Friday of the means and measures of reinforced restrictions.

For his part, government spokesman Gabriel Attal said Friday on France 2 "important" that the curfew at 6:00 p.m. "remains in place and continues to be observed", because it "has helped stabilize the health situation. ".

Stabilization of course, but at a still very high level, with more than 22,000 new cases confirmed in the last 24 hours and still strong pressure on hospitals (more than 25,000 hospitalized patients including more than 3,300 in intensive care).

"We are on a high plateau and that is not good. The goal is less than 5,000 cases per day, so we are far, far, far!"

thus regretted on LCI Professor Gilbert Deray, head of the nephrology service at the Parisian hospital Pitié-Salpêtrière and displayed supporter of a "zero Covid" strategy through reconfinement.

He expressed doubts about the effectiveness of the hardening of the isolation announced by Olivier Véran, "non-compulsory, unverified isolation".

- Billions -

Another debate of the day, the possibility mentioned by some members of the Scientific Council which advises the government of a "social contract" between generations, where the oldest and most fragile would agree to self-isolate.

"Very complicated" for Gabriel Attal, especially since it is already the "most confined people" on their own.

"Already applied in practice", adds on BFMTV Benjamin Davido, infectious disease specialist at the Raymond-Poincaré hospital in Garches, for whom institutionalize such a measure "to stigmatize (have) these populations".

On the economic side, the corporate earnings season illustrates every day the devastation caused by the shutdown for long months of entire sectors in the face of the pandemic.

After the air Thursday, it was Renault, the flagship of the automobile, which announced Friday record losses of 8 billion euros for 2020.

This plunge into the red is explained in particular by the collapse of the Japanese partner Nissan, but Renault sales plummeted by 21.3% over the year, with less than three million vehicles sold in a car market in free fall.

The group saw its sales fall sharply worldwide, except in Russia and Turkey, where the market recovered in the second half of the year.

- Metalleux seated?

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Another stricken sector, that of the performing arts, received a breath of air on Thursday.

The Minister of Culture Roselyne Bachelot has indeed set a framework for the holding of festivals this summer: a gauge of 5,000 people, seated and distanced.

Gérard Pont, boss of the Francofolies, scheduled for mid-July in La Rochelle (150,000 people in 2019), welcomes "excellent news".

"Last year, in April, we were nowhere, without a decision, and here we are in February and we are told that there could be festivals, it's already great".

Another story for Hellfest, one of the main metal festivals in Europe, which takes place in June in Clisson (Loire-Atlantique).

"5,000 metalheads seated and distanced, it is not possible", asserts Ben Barbaud, his boss, deeming the cancellation "inevitable", as in 2020.

Meanwhile, the vaccination campaign, the main hope for a return to normal life, continues.

After a much criticized start at the end of December, France passed the one million mark on Thursday who received two doses and therefore fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

Almost 2.5 million people have received at least one dose.

© 2021 AFP