“No health system has been designed to cope with such a wave. For nearly two hours, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe tried this Saturday evening to clarify the French strategy against the coronavirus. An educational exercise conducted alongside several specialists, and the Minister of Health Olivier Véran. Among the flagship measures, the massive order for masks mainly from China.
"More than a billion masks have been ordered from France and abroad for the weeks and months to come," announced the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, during this press conference. To facilitate their arrival, especially since the competition for them is global, "a narrow and intensive air bridge between France and China" has been put in place, he said. Why call abroad, and mainly in China? Because France, which needs 40 million masks per week, produces 8 million. "Our reserves are not infinite," conceded Olivier Véran.
The figures were eagerly awaited, as the question of masks has become extremely sensitive. This Friday, a group of caregivers, already at the origin of complaints against Edouard Philippe and Agnès Buzyn (ex-Minister of Health), demanded from the government the contracts of order of masks and tests of detection of the coronavirus of the last three months . The executive has been accused for several weeks, by political opposition as well as by health circles, of unpreparedness faced with the epidemic of coronavirus, pointing in particular to the shortage of masks.
More than 50,000 tests per day by the end of April
The order must therefore replenish stocks, estimated at 117 million before the crisis, but it is impossible to say when they will arrive on the face of caregivers. Some of this equipment, already in circulation on the territory could not have been delivered, recognized Olivier Véran. Deliveries to healthcare establishments are said to be delayed by “24 to 48 hours” due to the right of withdrawal exercised by the deliverers.
In addition, France wants to go up in terms of screening with "50,000 classic tests" per day by the end of April to which will be added "more than 100,000" tests "rapid in June", promised Olivier Veran. These so-called “rapid” screenings can be performed in a “drive”, directly by car. By way of comparison, Germany, often taken as an example for its management of the crisis, tests 500,000 people per week. “Regarding these tests, we are dependent on global research. I understand impatience, but political time is not that of science, ”warned Olivier Véran.
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