A new health defense council is being held on Wednesday, and Jean Castex could announce new restrictions on Thursday in an attempt to slow the progression of the coronavirus epidemic.
But the executive, which wants at all costs to avoid a national reconfinement, no longer has many options.
If Emmanuel Macron estimated Monday that it was still necessary to hold "four to six weeks" against the coronavirus epidemic, in the meantime, it is rather a new tightening of measures that awaits some of the French.
While hospital pressure remains strong, and a local reconfinement at the weekend has already been established in Dunkirk and part of the Alpes-Maritimes, a new health defense council must be held on Wednesday, before possible announcements by Jean Castex, Thursday.
But the government, which multiplies the consultations, struggles to find the right measures.
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Faced with a high plateau of hospitalizations, deaths and contaminations, there are not many options left for the executive.
Emmanuel Macron therefore asked his ministers to extol the effectiveness of the curfew everywhere, both to better show the interest of strengthening it until a possible confinement at the weekend, but also to explain that it is is the only option to avoid a blanket re-containment.
Hidalgo refuses all confinement on weekends
The other obsession of the executive, which changed gear a week ago by accepting local lockdowns, is that all these local measures be consistent from one city to another to avoid a domino effect in the event uncontrolled initiatives.
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Tuesday evening, the entourage of the Prime Minister confided to Europe 1 that no scenario was privileged, and that the consultations with the elected officials in the departments continue Wednesday.
But beyond the official version, the first consultations still made it possible to guess the tracks envisaged by the government, in particular in Paris, where the prefect of police proposed to the town hall a reconfinement of the capital on the weekend.
A proposal immediately rejected by Anne Hidalgo, who understood perfectly that the idea came directly from the Elysee.
The fact remains that one absolute certainty remains: we are heading towards new measures.