Paris (AFP)

Ile-de-France and Hauts-de-France reconfigured for the weekend or the whole week?

The executive must announce new restrictions on Thursday to try to curb the "third wave" of the Covid-19 epidemic which will "hit very hard" until mid-April according to Emmanuel Macron.

"We are, let's be clear, in a third wave largely due to the rise of this famous English variant. The situation is clearly critical. It will hit very hard until mid-April," said the Head of State Wednesday evening during a videoconference with mayors from Ile-de-France and other regions.

They will first concern the 12 million Ile-de-France residents and the 6 million inhabitants of Hauts-de-France, two regions particularly affected by the marked acceleration of the circulation of the virus in France, with more than 38,000 contaminations in 24 hours according to the report. last review.

The two heads of the executive, which will continue to consult elected officials, will see each other at the end of the morning to stall the last arbitrations, according to a government source.

As of Wednesday noon, at the end of a new Sanitary Defense Council, government spokesman Gabriel Attal said that "additional measures", applicable from this weekend, would be taken in these two regions, while by suggesting that the schools would remain open there.

No new restrictions, however, in PACA, where Nice and the Alpes-Maritimes coast are already confined at weekends.

But even before being announced, a reconfinement, even partial, is already judged with severity by the opposition and certain scientists.

"When we take brutal braking measures, for example confinement on weekends, it is because we have failed on everything else, lamented on France Inter the boss of senators LR Bruno Retailleau.

"The difficulty we have is both the virus and the fact that Emmanuel Macron misses everything he does," criticized LFI's number two Adrien Quatennens on BFMTV.

"This re-containment today at the last limit, the knife under the throat, at the last extremity, is the worst of things", estimated the president of the National League against cancer Axel Kahn, lambasting on Europe 1 "the failure of the bet "of Mr. Macron not to have reconfigured in January.

But for the presidential majority, "the French understood that there was no choice", assured LREM deputy Aurore Bergé on France 2.

- Three scenarios -

While Mr. Macron promises "pragmatic, proportionate, territorialized, necessary decisions", his Prime Minister mentioned three scenarios to parliamentarians: confinement at weekends, as in November or as in spring 2020.

"The hypothesis of national confinement is not considered at this stage but not excluded" if the data continued to evolve unfavorably, reported the leader of PS senators Patrick Kanner to AFP.

In front of elected officials Wednesday evening, Emmanuel Macron insisted on the weariness of the French and the need to play sports in the open air.

"We still learned one thing from the first confinement, it is that being outside is pretty good, if we don't have big parties or we don't start drinking beer in places common ", said the Head of State who could decide to keep parks and gardens open.

While all of France is already under curfew, the executive has done everything to delay further restrictions.

Transfers of patients to less affected regions have been organized, hospitals are deprogramming operations and mobilizing beds from private clinics.

- Decision also on AstraZeneca -

But these movements of patients are proving to be more complicated than expected.

Very few patients in intensive care are sufficiently stable for this and families are reluctant.

The figures remain bad: in addition to the increase in the number of contaminations, the incidence rate has again climbed to 425 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants over the last seven days in the Paris region (505 in Seine-Saint-Denis), well at above the so-called "maximum alert" threshold for health authorities (250).

In total, 4,219 Covid-19 patients were in intensive care on Wednesday in France, while the country exceeded the bar of 91,000 dead.

To get out of the crisis, which cost more than 160 billion euros last year according to the government, France is counting on mass vaccination, slowed since Monday by the surprise suspension of AstraZeneca's vaccine.

leb-pab-dm-el / jk / shu

© 2021 AFP