While the symbolic bar of one million cases of Covid-19 has just been crossed in France, 54 departments and Polynesia are now subject to a night-time curfew to try to contain the epidemic, the government warning that the period will be "
long and difficult
".
Read also: Covid-19: short-lived victory for three municipalities against the curfew
A week after Ile-de-France and large metropolitan areas, the decree prohibiting travel between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. in 38 new departments was published overnight, affecting some 43 million French people.
This Saturday morning, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran defended before the deputies the extension until February 16 of the state of health emergency to face a "
period which will be long and difficult
", while a new A record of 42,032 Covid-19 cases was reached in 24 hours on Friday, bringing the total to 1,041,075 confirmed cases since March.
The deputies examine this weekend the bill which aims to extend this exceptional regime, re-triggered last Saturday and which notably allows curfews in part of the country.
"
We need this text to be effective in the period
" of the second wave of the coronavirus, declared the minister at the start of the debates, before leaving for Marseille to visit the North Hospital with Prime Minister Jean Castex.
On the spot, the latter noted "
once again
" that "the best way" to "relieve the hospital is ultimately not to fall ill
and that depends on each and every one of us
", he insisted, calling on the population to respect "
at all costs
" the curfew and "
even better, all barrier gestures
", including in the private sphere.
Read also: Covid-19: the curfew advanced at 10 p.m. in Brussels
The day before, President Emmanuel Macron judged that it was too early to provide for "
local or wider reconfigurations
", preferring to wait "for
the middle of next week (to have) a clearer vision of the impact of the measures
" taken.
But we will have to live with the virus "
at best until the summer of 2021
", he warned.
The test positivity rate continues to climb, reaching 15.1% against 14.3% the day before, against only 4.5% in early September.
The toll is also growing every day, with 298 new deaths, bringing the total to at least 34,508 deaths.
"
The difference compared to the first wave is that we have all the chronic pathologies of the winter period to take care of
", stressed on CNews Agnes Ricard-Hibon, emergency doctor.
"Attack on freedoms"
"
We try to anticipate a little more, a little better, we have more material resources but not enough nursing staff
", added on BFMTV Nadège Houbgbo, nurse in the intensive care unit of Lariboisiere, while the Parisian hospitals rang general alert: arming of additional resuscitation beds, deprogramming of operations, cancellation of leave and call for volunteers.
In the Gier valley (Loire), the situation is already so tense that mayors have asked the state for medical assistance from the army to make up for the lack of caregivers, as in Mulhouse last spring.
Read also: Covid-19: clashes erupt in Naples between the police and young people opposed to the curfew
At the current rate, "
all the patients who will require it will no longer be able to be admitted to intensive care in the Gier Hospital within 15 days
", is alarmed in particular Vincent Bony, mayor of Rive-de-Gier.
If they escape confinement for the moment, two thirds of French people must now give up their evenings in freedom.
A pill that is sometimes difficult to swallow.
"
It will affect us a lot
", worries the boss of a bar-restaurant in Strasbourg, Franck Meunier, who manages several establishments and expects a drop in turnover between "
30 and 40%
".
In Lyon, the private corks of customers in the evening revive the tradition of “mâchon”, a well-watered pork meal to be enjoyed in the morning.
"
Even if we are smiling, the situation is complicated,
" sighs the boss of the "Poêlon d'Or" Yann Lalle.
Read also: Curfew: hotel restaurants authorized to serve their customers after 9:00 p.m. in room service
In a column published in
Le Monde
, the defender of rights Claire Hédon wonders if the curfew is the measure "
the most adequate, considering the extent of the violation of freedoms that it implies
" and calls for a "
in-depth public debate
”.
Another critical voice was raised on Saturday, the geneticist Axel Kahn estimating on FranceInfo that the reopening of universities at the start of the school year was a "
gross error
" given the "
considerable
" number of "
contaminations of students
".
