(ANSA) - PARIS, APRIL 20 - The French Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, believes that for five days "we have started a decline in the epidemic" but "this decrease remains fragile", because "we are always at a very high level". Interviewed by the regional newspaper Le Telégramme de Brest, Véran declares that "the daily cases have decreased: we had risen to 40,000, today we are around an average of 22,000 cases a day". "But this decrease - he warns - remains fragile". "We are always at a very high level of the epidemic and the descent is not yet sufficiently rapid and clear.
With respect to a lifting of the restrictions in mid-May, the minister merely said that this "will be the subject of announcements in due course". Data from Santé Publique France indicate just over 29,000 new cases on Sunday, about 36,000 on Saturday and 36,500 on Friday. Yesterday, France had 31,214 hospitalizations from Covid-19, including nearly 6,000 in intensive care. (HANDLE).