PARIS – The virus is actively circulating in approximately 20% of the regions of France and masks will now be needed for everyone in Paris; however, the government is determined to reopen schools next week, put staff back to work and launch the Tour de France. cycling race on Saturday.
Showing a map of the country’s new “red zones,” French Prime Minister Jean Castex on Thursday suggested to the local government impose new restrictions to delay infections and prevent an economically devastating national blockade.
“The epidemic is gaining ground and now we have to intervene,” Castex said. France “must do all it can to achieve additional confinement.”
He said the increase in cases this summer, basically because other people went on vacation with a circle of family and friends, came earlier than expected.
France now has more than 50 tests consisting of 100,000 inhabitants in Paris, Marseille and elsewhere. The government announced Thursday that 21 of the 101 administrative regions, or departments, are now in the “red zone” where the virus is actively circulating and where local government can impose stricter regulations on meetings and movements.
Castex has asked the Paris government to start wearing the mask everywhere, in some neighborhoods. Marseille already imposes the mask.
Government ministers are under pressure that the French hospital formula, once reputable, is more prepared to meet new instances of COVID-19 than when the virus spread across the country in March and April, saturating extensive care units. France has reported more than 30,500 virus-like deaths, the third highest number of deaths in Europe after Britain and Italy, but experts say all figures underestimate the actual number of the pandemic due to limited testing and other factors.
France had only a few hundred new infections per day in May and June, however, the number began to increase in July when the country intensified testing. Daily instances exceeded 5,000 on Wednesday for the first time since May.
The number of patients inflamed with the virus in French hospitals remains low so far despite the accumulation of infections, but has increased in recent days.
Thursday’s government’s message was combined: while expressing fear about developing cases, Castex insisted that “living with the virus” is the new national mantra and needs others to repaint in September as widely as possible.
To protect vulnerable populations, the Prime Minister suggested that others do not hold parties in a family circle and said that “Grandpa and Grandma” would not pick their grandchildren from school.
Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer said there is no explanation for why to roll back plans to send France’s 12.9 million academics back to elegance next week or reopening coffee shops.
“All young people go back to school,” he said.
Blanquer also said that allowing the Tour de France cycling race to position itself is “a sign that we can continue and the resilience of our society.”
It is already its classic start in early July, the first cycling occasion begins in Nice on Saturday and will tour the country for more than 3 weeks. Fans, tourists and citizens regularly flock along the direction for a beloved occasion which is a top-notch advertisement for France’s good looks and traditions, this year’s organizers urge all spectators to wear masks.
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