The epidemic situation worries.
Thursday, January 21, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran did not rule out on TF1 a new confinement if the situation deteriorated further.
To date, France has recorded some 300 deaths per day, which is much less than our English neighbors who recorded on January 20, 1820, that is to say more than the 1224 deaths on April 21, its peak recorded in spring.
Read also: Sixth dose of Pfizer vaccine: how the good news became a trap
To limit the transmission of variants of the more contagious virus, the minister has already warned that homemade masks are no longer sufficient to ensure collective protection, and that the physical distance requested between the French would be extended.
The High Council of Public Health (the HCSP) must in particular publish on Friday new recommendations aimed in particular at redefining contact cases.
Contact cases are people who have been in contact with people who are sick or have symptoms (probable cases).
Until now, one had to have had “
direct contact with a case, face-to-face, within 1 meter, regardless of the duration
”, to be considered as a contact case.
From this Friday, this distance is 2 meters.
End of artisanal masks
In order to hamper the circulation of the virus, homemade masks will no longer be considered sufficient.
"
The HCSP recommends to the French, and this is the recommendation that I also make them, to no longer use the artisanal mask that we made at home
", declared Olivier Véran, Thursday evening on TF1, confirming the opinion that the HCSP had issued earlier this week.
Read also: In fabric, surgical or FFP2: which masks to trust against Covid-19?
A new decree should be promulgated this Friday which will include the recommendations of the HCSP.
Henceforth, only three types of masks will therefore in principle have to be worn in public spaces, even if it will be difficult to ensure in practice that this instruction is respected: surgical masks (from the medical world, with a blue face and a white face), FFP2 (the most protective) and so-called “
category 1
”
industrial fabric masks
.
According to the standards developed by Afnor, category 1 masks filter 90% of particles, while category 2 masks block only 70%.
The announcements come as the 27 member countries of the European Union met by videoconference on Thursday evening for a summit dedicated to the fight against the pandemic.
"
The essential message is to prepare for a rapid escalation in the stringency of measures (to counter the virus) in the coming weeks in order to preserve healthcare capacities, as well as to speed up vaccination campaigns
", warned the European Epidemics Agency, based in Stockholm.
The 27 EU countries have already agreed on the need to reduce cross-border movements.
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/OOLBKF5K4VFN7EA7IFFA4PMVUE.jpg)