PARIS (Reuters) – The new spread of coronavirus in France could become more complicated without a collective effort to avoid an increase in the infection rate, its prime minister said Tuesday.
The public was carefree, Jean Castex warned, speaking shortly before the fitness administration reported that new daily infections had increased to 1397 in 24 hours, almost twice as much as Monday, to succeed in 204172.
“If we don’t act collectively, we are exposed to the greatest threat that the rebound of the epidemic will be difficult to control,” Castex said on a stopover at a hospital in the south of France.
A report from the Ministry of Health also reported 15 new deaths in the hospital due to the disease, compared to a 16-day build-up in a three-day era between Monday and Saturday, with a total death toll of 30,354.
The seven-day moving average of new infections in France rose to 1,691 on Tuesday from 1,056 on July 31. The seven-day measure hit a low of 272 after the 27 May blockade, more than two weeks after France eased one of Europe’s strictest blockades.
But as in the maximum neighbouring European countries, the new groups have multiplied as other people let their hair down during the holidays, families hold meetings and staff return to offices and France is desperate for some other large-scale blockade.
Britain has said it would hesitate to put more countries on its quarantine list, adding France, where hordes of Britons spend their summer holidays.
Early Tuesday, President Emmanuel Macron held a videoconvention with key ministers of his retirement on the French Riviera.
During the meeting, France would identify new restrictions on the 20 largest cities in order to stem the accumulation of the infection rate and that the ban on meetings of more than 5,000 more people would continue until 31 October.
Some cities have already taken action. Paris joined Toulouse, Lille, Biarritz and others on Monday to impose a mandatory order for masks in crowded outdoor areas. They are already mandatory in the country in department stores and banks.
The prime minister said the tests were “more than satisfactory,” with more than 600,000 tests conducted a week, but said more can be done to attack other people with symptoms, the prime minister said.
Speaking about the blocking threat, Castex said, “No one needs to go through this again.”
Later, during a stopover at a Mediterranean resort, Castex said it had started talks with employers and unions to make it as widespread as possible for those wearing masks in the workplace.
Hospitals are not at this level out of the disease, and the number of others treated for the infection decreased from 33 to 5,012, after emerging on Monday for the first time in 10 weeks. Total hospitalizations similar to COVID-19 peaked at 32292 on 14 April.
Reporting through Benoit Van Overstraeten, Matthieu Protard and Henri-Pierre André; written through Richard Lough, edited through William Maclean
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