Covid-19: for Jean Castex, "we are in a form of third wave"

A first.

Until now, members of the government had never mentioned this term.

This Tuesday, during a new questioning session to the government in the National Assembly, the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, used the term third wave in France.

The country has entered "a form of third wave" of the coronavirus epidemic, "characterized by many variants", he said, still placing vaccination "at the forefront of the strategy" to try to stem it.

"The epidemic is playing overtime," said the Prime Minister to the National Assembly, one year to the day after Emmanuel Macron ordered the first confinement.

Jean Castex: "We are in what looks like a form of third wave" pic.twitter.com/F1ehOFkf0J

- BFMTV (@BFMTV) March 16, 2021

A little earlier, the elected officials and members of the government present had observed a few seconds of silence for the some 90,000 dead from the Covid, at the invitation of the president of the group of PS deputies Valérie Rabault.

Jean Castex called, for the umpteenth time, to "respect more than ever the elementary gestures which for a year have been a guarantee of solidarity in the face of pandemic progression".

"Mass vaccination to get by"

The epidemic situation is indeed very tense in several departments, starting with those of Ile-de-France where the resuscitation services at the hospital have reached the saturation thresholds and the incidence rate exceeded, on Monday, the 400 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

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"What are you planning to do to prevent us from taking the wall?"

», Asked the deputy Rabault to the head of government.

“I would obviously put vaccination at the forefront of this fight strategy when I speak,” replied Jean Castex, while the AstraZeneca vaccine is currently suspended in France and among its European neighbors.

"We know that it is mass vaccination [...] which will allow us to get out of it," insisted the head of government.

A British vaccine that the Minister of Solidarity and Health, Olivier Véran, wanted to defend against the deputies.

"This vaccine (AstraZeneca) is very effective and valuable," he said, before justifying the suspension decision announced on Monday by Emmanuel Macron.

“We are giving ourselves 48 hours of hindsight to come back with confidence in front of the French.

"

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While the threat of a re-containment hangs over Île-de-France, the President of the Republic has planned to consult the scientific council on Tuesday at 5 p.m. before deciding on this new stage in the fight against Covid-19 .