Paris (AFP)
Will Ile-de-France be confined over the weekend, as Jean Castex clearly suggested on Tuesday?
Emmanuel Macron must decide on Wednesday in the face of the "third wave" of the epidemic and a vaccination hampered by doubts about AstraZeneca.
In the meantime, Jean Castex has prepared the spirits: "The time has come to consider arrangements for the Ile-de-France region," the Prime Minister warned on BFMTV on Tuesday evening.
"Nice-type measures are on the table."
In other words: "Reconfining the weekend is a hypothesis", he said, as is already the case in the agglomerations of Nice, Dunkirk and in Pas-de-Calais.
The decision will come back to the Head of State on Wednesday, in the Defense Council, one year to the day after the first confinement.
Emmanuel Macron pushed back to the maximum the idea of a reconfinement and preferred for weeks the option of "pushing the walls" of the hospital, thanks to the transfers of patients to less affected regions, the deprogramming of operations and the mobilization of private clinic beds.
- "Time master" -
But on Monday, he changed his tone.
The one who has often described himself as "the master of the clocks" conceded: "the master of time is the virus".
He admitted that he would have to "take new decisions in the coming days, no doubt," although "in an appropriate and proportionate manner" depending on the territories.
To form his opinion, the Head of State consulted the Scientific Council on Tuesday and then discussed in video with the heads of resuscitation services in several regions under pressure.
The incidence rate again climbed to 418 new cases of contamination per 100,000 inhabitants over the last seven days in the Paris region, well above the so-called "maximum alert" threshold of the health authorities (250).
The increase in the number of patients in intensive care is forcing hospitals in Ile-de-France to deprogram nearly half of their non-emergency operations.
"Ile-de-France is on borrowed time, with a virus that is progressing quickly, very aggressive, very contagious which is the English variant", had previously agreed the president of the region Valérie Pécresse, asking to be "associated" with the "appropriate measures" that the government will take.
In total, 4,239 Covid-19 patients were in intensive care on Tuesday, a peak since November 2020, including 435 admitted in the past 24 hours.
More than a quarter of them (1,177) are hospitalized in Ile-de-France.
Resuscitation services are also almost saturated in Hauts-de-France and Provence Alpes-Côtes d'Azur.
And the virus continues to kill: 320 dead on Tuesday and 91,170 dead since the start of the epidemic.
- An AstraZeneca for Castex -
On January 29, Emmanuel Macron surprised by refusing a third confinement, yet demanded by many experts and part of his entourage.
The ban on going out and the closing of shops and remains for him "a last resort".
"As long as we can avoid it, we will avoid it," repeated those around him until the last few days.
Jean Castex reiterated that it was necessary to ensure that all the options were examined before a measure whose economic, social and psychological cost is very heavy.
To get out of the crisis, France is counting on mass vaccination, slowed since Monday by the surprise suspension of the AstraZeneca vaccine, in the wake of Germany.
The executive hopes that the European Medicines Authority (EMA) will give it back the green light on Thursday, in order to quickly restart the vaccination campaign.
With the Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, he judged Tuesday "encouraging" the statements of the EMA which reiterated itself "firmly convinced" of the advantages of this vaccine.
To help restore confidence in a vaccine which, according to an Elabe poll, is only considered reliable by 22% of French people, Jean Castex said he was ready to be vaccinated as soon as he is re-authorized.
The government, which has promised at least 10 million first injections by mid-April, 20 million by mid-May and 30 million by the summer, is maintaining its target for the time being. and is counting on this vaccine, which doctors and pharmacists can inject, to keep up the pace.
Of more than 5.2 million first doses injected in France, 1.3 million come from AstraZeneca, the others being vaccines from Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna.
© 2021 AFP