Paris (AFP)

Despite a decline in the still fragile epidemic, the executive maintains its objective of gradually lifting the restrictions from May, by removing the 10 km limit on the evening of May 2 and by reopening the terraces in mid-May, thanks to acceleration of vaccinations.

Emmanuel Macron, who had drawn this calendar at the end of March, should himself announce these modalities of reopening by the first week of May, according to this source.

The executive also plans to possibly ease the curfew and reopen non-food businesses and places of culture from mid-May, with reduced gauges, a source close to the executive told AFP. while a Health Defense Council was held Wednesday morning before the Council of Ministers.

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.

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, according to Public Health France.

"We can clearly see a notable drop in a large number of regions," confirmed epidemiologist Antoine Flahaut on RTL.

The reproduction rate (R0) of the virus, a key indicator corresponding to the number of people infected for a single patient, has "fallen below 0.9", notes this doctor, predicting that the decline will increase in the coming days .

But "the descent is not yet fast enough", warns Olivier Véran himself, 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. at the hospital or arrive in intensive care, "she said on FranceInfo.

"There is less contamination but we are at such a high level that it does not yet have an impact on the hospital load," she insisted.

- Student self-test -

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.

"It would be too premature to open the country today. France is on the right track and must do everything to maintain" this course ", warns Professor Flahaut, in favor of three additional weeks of semi-containment.

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 cumulating about eight months of closure since the start of the pandemic more than a year ago.

Emmanuel Macron welcomed during a meeting "vaccines" Tuesday evening at the Elysee Palace that the vaccine campaign "is accelerating" with nearly 18 million doses already injected.

He considered that the important thing was "to know how one maintains this rhythm", in particular because of "difficulties to convince on AstraZeneca", whose administration caused rare cases of blood clots.

© 2021 AFP