French Prime Minister: COVID-19 currently kills one in four French people | NOW

French Prime Minister Jean Castex gave an explanation of the corona figures in France during a press conference on Thursday evening. According to Castex, there are positive developments, but COVID-19 is nevertheless currently the underlying cause of death in one in four deaths.

Although on average one resident of France is admitted to a hospital every thirty seconds, Castex is cautiously thinking about relaxing the corona measures as of December 1. The catering industry will then remain closed anyway and France will certainly not make any changes to the corona policy in the next two weeks, he emphasized.

To justify easing, according to Castex, the increase in corona numbers must continue to level off. This week, more than 30,000 positive tests are reported daily, last week there were about 40,000 a day, with the exception of the nearly 87,000 positive tests on Saturday. The reproduction number (R) would have fallen below 1, which indicates that a hundred people together infect fewer people.

Castex rules out that residents can travel between various departments again from the beginning of December, but also hopes to be able to relax that restriction before Christmas. The Prime Minister points out that the current measures are bearing fruit. “In Paris, the use of the metro has plummeted by 55 percent,” said Castex.

According to Castex, this is demonstrable evidence that, as requested, people work more from home. However, the prime minister believes there is even more that companies can do to keep their employees at home. “We continue to provide tremendous financial assistance to stores and businesses that have been forced to close their properties,” added Castex.

The prime minister says that he will not succumb to pressure from “groups that are already demanding relaxation”. Castex: “Things are moving in the right direction, but we have to remain cautious. Our hospital admissions are still above the peak in April.”

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