As usual on Wednesday at midday, Gabriel Attal gave an update on the Covid-19 epidemic in France.
"The first effects [of the measures] are perceptible", hammered the young Secretary of State at the end of the Council of Ministers, using a formula already used in recent weeks.
"We could be at the peak or close to the peak" but "we still observe disparities" according to the territories and "we are still very far from a return to a normal medical activity", he also specified.
Gabriel Attal also announced that India had been added "this morning" to the list of countries affected by the ten-day quarantine mandatory on arrival in France.
Until then, only Brazil, Chile, Argentina, South Africa and Guyana were affected by this measure supposed to come into force this Saturday morning.
The second most populous country in the world is facing an explosion in the epidemic, in part due to a new variant of SARS-CoV-2.
The return of the press conference on Thursday
Gabriel Attal, on the other hand, did not reveal much of the expected announcements on the reopening of various places (restaurant terraces, museums, etc.), apart from the fact that travel restrictions as well as certificates during the day will take end of May 3.
Earlier in the morning, Matignon had not confirmed with the Parisian the information evoked by a source close to the executive to AFP, according to which terraces, non-food shops and places of culture could reopen on May 17 , with reduced gauges.
Travel restrictions lifted: curfew could be maintained beyond May 3 pic.twitter.com/bZbMpyMoor
- BFMTV (@BFMTV) April 21, 2021
The government will hold a press conference this Thursday afternoon, said Gabriel Attal. This ritualized meeting had not taken place since March 24. “You don't do it for fun but because you have something to say, otherwise you create an expectation for not much. There, there is not necessarily novelty on the epidemic situation ”, justified then the entourage of Olivier Véran in Parisien. A more solemn speech by Emmanuel Macron is also expected in the coming days, as the Head of State had committed.
Finally, the vaccinations with Janssen could start as early as Saturday, the government spokesman said. On Tuesday, the Ministry of Health rather evoked the beginning of next week, provided that the High Authority of Health had communicated its new recommendations by then.