Jean Castex said France recorded 35,000 new infections on Thursday, an increase of 23.6% over the past week, and that the variant first identified in the UK accounts for three-quarters of the cases.
The French prime minister also said that one person enters intensive care with Covid-19 in the country every four minutes. Even more worrying, according to him, is that the people admitted with the disease are younger and healthier compared to previous waves.
The new measures take effect at midnight on Friday and last at least four weeks, but are less restrictive than measures introduced in March and November last year.
“Our choice, to be less restrictive with the possibility of leaving your home, will have to go hand in hand with the utmost care,” Castex said. “It’s clearly about allowing people to be outside, but not to go to friends’ houses to have a party or meet a lot of people without social distance or a face mask. We know that the virus in that kind of situation is to be prosperous, ”he added.
The new restrictions allow individuals to walk or exercise outdoors, but they must have a certificate of approval and they cannot travel more than 10 km from their home or travel between regions without a valid reason.
However, the night clock – currently in force at 18:00 – will be moved to 19:00 on Friday.
Important businesses will remain open, as will schools and universities. But people are encouraged to work from home.
“Our belief is that if we need new measures, we must maintain the same coherence and prefer a pragmatic, proportionate, territorial approach,” Castex said, adding that the coronavirus pandemic “significantly accelerated” and that it “became clearer and clearer” that it’s a third wave. ‘
The French strategy led by President Emmanuel Macron – which is up for re-election next year – has so far consisted of resisting a third nationwide exclusion because of the impact it will have on mental health and the economy.
Macron preferred local weekend getaways, such as in the north and the French Riviera. A nationwide curfew rule has been in effect since mid-December and restaurants and pubs have been closed for five months.
As neighboring countries have introduced stricter restrictions to combat the spread of new varieties, Macron’s less serious approach is supported by some and misunderstood by others. After France passed the bad milestone of 90,000 deaths, Macron is high. Critics say he gambles with lives.
“Macron is entrenching its commitment and human lives are at stake,” Communist MP Fabien Roussel told France 5.
The 43-year-old was accused of returning to monarchical ways by going against the advice of his Scientific Council, resisting pressure from his ministers and being slow to change course.
“If you are French, you have everything you need to succeed, provided you dare to try,” Macron reportedly told ministers in January. “Even if the path is now, you must take it.”
In February, the government again faced increasing calls from members of the medical community to impose a national exclusion. French Health Minister Olivier Veran defends a decision to hold out.
“Every week without an exclusion is a week with additional freedoms for the French,” Veran told France Info.
But with France recording its highest daily increase in Covid-19 cases in four months on Wednesday with 38,501 new infections, according to the French Ministry of Health, some disagree with the idea that every day counts as a victory without exclusion not.
“We did not win 15 days, we lost 15 days and that could have made the situation worse,” tweeted Daniel Fasquelle, mayor of Les Republicans.
The left-wing newspaper, Liberation, published a front page on Wednesday staring at a masked Macron, “Covid: The Master Of Lost Time,” reads the headline.
“The president is so scared of losing next year’s election that his policies will ultimately increase the risk of death in the French population,” epidemiologist Catherine Hill told CNN on Thursday. But with the virus ‘everywhere’, Hill does not believe that local affiliations are the answer.
This time, France entered its first exclusion last year, which lasted three months, followed by a second lighter exclusion that began in October and ended in December.
France’s slow vaccine campaign has been widely criticized and its rollout is expected to be further hampered by the suspension of the AstraZeneca vaccine. It vaccinated just 4.5% of its population, compared to 36% in the UK and 21% in the United States, according to our World in Data.
Despite poor vaccine performance, Macron’s support has increased since the beginning of the year. According to an Ipsos-Mori poll in March, his approval rating rose by 6 percentage points to 41%, well above his socialist predecessor Francois Hollande’s 16% in March 2016 and conservative Nicolas Sarkozy’s in 2011, which stood at 31%.
Antonella Francini of CNN contributed to this report.