PARIS (Reuters) – France will not lower its guard in the face of a still-virulent coronavirus, but life will have to return to a kind of normalcy, the prime minister said on Wednesday, as a senior government adviser warned of a momentary wave in November. .
Prime Minister Jean Castex said his government sought to ensure that the French could simply go back to school, go back to painting and enjoy a social life “as much as possible. “
The mask would be at the center of the government’s strategy after an increase in the rate of coronavirus infections in recent weeks, he said.
“Worst of all, we’re going down the road because we haven’t done things in a social and economic crisis,” Castex told France Inter radio.
France has the seventh number of COVID-19-related deaths in the world, with 30,544 deaths.
It reported 3304 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday, down from last week’s daily highs but much higher than after President Emmanuel Macron first eased a national lockdown.
Students over the age of 11 will need to wear a mask when they return to school on September 1, and loose masks will be provided to those at risk of being fit or from deficient families.
France has also made wearing a mask mandatory starting next week to counter an outbreak of infections when workers return from their summer vacation.
Europe’s countries wonder how to restart their economies and make citizens’ daily lives as widespread as possible without accelerating the spread of the virus.
Britain said Wednesday that academics will be required to wear masks in non-unusual spaces of the best schools at COVID access points, in an additional change of government. Germany has said it needs to eliminate mandatory loose testing for returning travellers due to bottlenecks in laboratories.
Emphasizing the delicate balance, the head of the clinical council that pleaded with the French government said a momentary wave of coronavirus could occur in November.
“We would probably have to give a boost to the measures again,” said Castex, who said local blockades would be imposed if necessary.
The government’s one hundred billion euro ($ 118. 07 billion) stimulus package will be released on September 3, Castex said.
Reporting through Sudip Kar-Gupta and Matthieu Protard; written through Richard Lough; Edited by Andrew Heavens, Hugh Lawson and Chizu Nomiyama
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