“We have decided to keep the confinement rules unchanged for at least the next fortnight.
Jean Castex wanted to be very clear this Thursday at the end of the afternoon, during a press conference to take stock of the effects of confinement, two weeks after its entry into force.
"It would be irresponsible to lighten the device now," insisted the Prime Minister, nevertheless acknowledging that certain indicators showed an improvement in the epidemic situation.
Jean Castex also judged "important that we can give visibility on what could happen in the coming weeks".
Two indicators of the Covid-19 epidemic (among all those known and communicated every evening by Public Health France) will be particularly scrutinized.
Peak at the hospital expected "early next week"
On the one hand, that of the circulation of the virus, that is to say the number of new cases per day.
It is calculated over seven days, in order to smooth the daily differences.
This Thursday was a drop of 16% compared to the start of containment, the Prime Minister said.
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The other indicator closely monitored is obviously that of the voltage of the hospital system.
This Thursday, and as expected for several days, the number of hospitalized patients has also exceeded the peak of the first wave, above 32,000, said Jean Castex.
The Prime Minister said that if the trends are confirmed, the peak voltage at the hospital could be reached "early next week".
He did not specify, however, whether he mentioned the number of beds occupied by Covid patients in the hospital or only in intensive care.
No "big holidays" at Christmas
In this case, "the first relief measures could be taken as of December 1 and would only concern businesses on the basis of an adapted protocol," said Jean Castex.
While warning on the fact that "this first step will not be able to concern other establishments receiving the public".
Clearly, bars and restaurants, in particular, will still have to wait.
There remains the case of the end of year celebrations, which many French people are already thinking about.
If he said he wished "to be able to allow a new reduction at the time of the Christmas holidays so that the French can spend the end of year celebrations with their families", Jean Castex considered "unreasonable to hope to be able to organize big parties », Especially for Christmas Eve on December 31st.
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