The Covid-19 epidemic intensified everywhere in France as controls in the confined departments were reinforced on Saturday.
The virus is spreading faster and faster. The latest figures published by Sant publique France show that the number of infected people is increasing a little more every day. On Friday March 26, 41,869 new cases were confirmed and an additional 304dcs have been registered since the day before. The positivit rate over the last seven days climbed 8.1% against 7.94% the day before. However, the vaccination campaign seems to regain speed with 317,318 people having received a first dose of vaccine, and 40,270 a second, in 24 hours on Thursday, March 25, for a daily average of 227,305 doses injected.
Reinforced controls
While three new departments, Rhne, Aube and Nivre, are affected by new restriction measures, the authorities on Saturday intensified checks at airports and road pages to enforce the ban on movement. Saturday morning, Montparnasse Paris station, additional police teams were mobilized to check the certificates of travelers. The new rules in the 19 departments concerned do not allow movement of more than 10 km without exemption, no leaving the territory without a pressing reason, impose closed shops and half-classes in high schools.
Measures deemed insufficient by many experts, for whom containment at least one month from this weekend, according to one of them, ric D’Ortenzio, quoted Saturday in the newspaper’s columns The Parisian. With the objective of finding an incidence rate of 5,000 new cases per day, the threshold set by Emmanuel Macron in November, never reached since the release of the last confinement. The number of resuscitated patients rose to 4,766 on Friday evening, still approaching the peak of the second wave in the fall (4,900). The bar of 200,000 new weekly cases has been crossed. A total of 94,302 people have died since the start of the epidemic.
Close schools?
Unlike many of its European neighbors, France refuses to close its schools. On Friday, the Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer announced that classes would now close as soon as a first patient appears in the reconfigured departments. But many voices are calling for a complete closure of establishments. In 0-14 years, the incidence rate increased by 31% from March 15 to 21 compared to the previous week, according to the epidemiological point published Friday by the health agency. It reached 281 cases per 100,000 inhabitants on average in France for young people aged 0 to 19. A progression that takes place throughout the territory, but particularly marked in le-de-France. In each of its departments, the incidence rate for 0-19 year olds is above 400 and even reached 541 in Val-de-Marne.
A postponement from the regions?
Thursday, the head of state Emmanuel Macron, who refused all mea culpa after his refusal to confine the country in January despite the forecasts of the experts, had indicated that the weeks to come would be difficult.
A defense council is to be held Wednesday evening to decide on a possible tightening of sanctions. In this context, the debate on a new postponement of the regional and departmental elections scheduled for June 13 and 20 is revived. The executive has indicated that he will comply strictly the opinion of the scientific council, which must in principle submit its recommendations on Sunday Matignon. According to an Odoxa Backbone Consulting survey conducted for franceinfo and Le Figaro, 71% of the French would approve a postponement of these elections.
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