Paris (AFP)

Despite a decline in the still fragile epidemic, France is maintaining its objective of gradually lifting the restrictions from next month, in particular by reopening the terraces in mid-May, thanks to the acceleration of vaccinations.

President Emmanuel Macron, who drew up this timetable at the end of March, should himself announce these terms of reopening by the first week of May, according to a source close to the government.

The authorities also plan to possibly ease the curfew, in force at 7:00 p.m., and to reopen from mid-May non-food businesses and places of culture, with reduced gauges.

Territorial adaptations are being studied, with a floor level of 35% in places of cultivation, which would vary depending on the circulation of the virus.

This choice reflects the executive's conviction that the number of infections will fall to around 20,000 per day within a month and that the target of 20 million vaccinated with at least one dose, scheduled for mid-May, will be reached.

But the decline is still slow and remains to be confirmed, remind both the Ministry of Health and several experts.

- "Fragile" situation -

For five days, "we have started a decrease in the epidemic" of coronavirus, which has killed more than 101,500 people for a year, underlined the Minister of Health Olivier Véran in an interview with the regional daily Le Télégramme.

"We had risen to 40,000, today we are around 33,000 cases each day on average".

Nevertheless, some 43,000 new contaminations were listed on Tuesday and "the descent is not yet fast enough", warns the minister, speaking of a "fragile" situation.

And Professor Karine Lacombe, head of the infectious diseases department at Saint-Antoine Hospital in Paris, to abound: "I would not say a decrease in the epidemic. I think the term is a little too enthusiastic".

"What we are seeing is a slowdown in the increase in cases. We are not at all reducing the number of people hospitalized, we are rather slowing the increase in people arriving. in hospital or in intensive care, "she said Wednesday on FranceInfo radio.

The tension on the health system is not weakening: France had 31,086 hospitalized patients, including almost 6,000 in intensive care.

The level is lower than the peak of the first wave in April 2020 (7,000), but higher than that of the second.

However, the school holidays soon end and elementary school students (between 6 and 11 years old) must return to class on April 26, middle and high school students on May 3.

The executive is considering, in particular, deploying students' self-tests on a massive scale at the start of the school year.

The lifting of restrictions is hoped for with impatience mixed with concern by traders or restaurateurs, the latter having accumulated about eight months of closure since the start of the pandemic.

© 2021 AFP