Time for decisions.
This Wednesday, the members of the government will have spent almost the entire day together.
It all started with a defense council, followed by a council of ministers where the head of state congratulated himself on not having reconfigured the entire country.
The program continued with a meeting on health protocols, before the ministerial videoconference moderated by Jean Castex.
If the executive is in a non-stop conclave, it is because it wants to refine its plan before the Prime Minister's press conference, which is being held this Thursday.
In front of the cameras, Jean Castex should call on the French to “general mobilization” and to empower everyone.
The dark scenario of a multiplication of local confinements at the weekend, like the measures taken in Dunkirk, seems to be receding.
Consequence: "The announced restrictions will not be massive," says a warned observer.
Ile-de-France should in particular be spared.
Relations having strained with the mayor of Paris, the government does not want to go into force against the advice of mayor Anne Hidalgo.
Avoid any slackening
Emmanuel Macron has chosen to use local confinement or on weekends "only as a last resort", explains a high-ranking source.
Consultations with local elected officials, through the prefects, continued on Wednesday.
The philosophy of the executive?
"We must hold together, as long as possible", we summarize in Matignon.
And alert on the dangers of a collective release to avoid putting in a bell.
In this perspective, and despite a "continuous and worrying rise" of the epidemic, a possible relaxation of the measures would be possible "perhaps as early as mid-April", said government spokesman Gabriel Attal, at the from the Council of Ministers.
VIDEO. Gabriel Attal plans "a return to more normal lives" around mid-April
However, some territories will experience a new turn of the screw, which should come into force this Saturday: the Pas-de-Calais department, where the epidemic is rampant, could be affected by confinement on weekends.
As for Guadeloupe, the curfew should be stricter, where it would start at 6 p.m.
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The list of twenty departments placed in “enhanced vigilance” has been updated to match the latest epidemiological reports.
Territories where the horizon becomes clearer fall off the list, when others enter it.
In total, a new map, counting a little more departments on alert than the previous one, will be unveiled.
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Health crisis: why Macron makes an appointment in "four to six weeks"
During the defense council, the head of state once again called for a boost.
"He wants to accelerate the vaccination in pharmacies and that it deposits in the vaccination centers", slips a participant.
In his entourage, some are beginning to worry about the emergence of new variants that would affect young people more, such as a possible “New York” strain.
Emmanuel Macron was upset by the sluggish start of the AstraZeneca vaccination campaign, which has not yet found its audience.
The government wants to push liberal doctors to use this product.
"People trust them, if the family doctor says it's a good vaccine, it will be more effective than a message from a politician," said a communicator from the executive.
The race against time has only just begun.