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COVID-19

LATEST: Coronavirus death toll rises as France grapples with new restrictions

France ratcheted up security measures this weekend to stem the coronavirus epidemic, which has lead to 127 deaths and contaminated more than 5,400 people. (Paywall free)

Published: 15 March 2020 20:23 CET
LATEST: Coronavirus death toll rises as France grapples with new restrictions
Parisians were enjoying the mild weather on Sunday, despite the government having asked everyone to limit their social interactions as much as possible. Photo: AFP

National health agency Santé Publique France, which has been updating its tally daily, put the new toll at 127 deaths on Sunday, as the government announced more stringent measures to stem the spread of the epidemic in the country.

More than 5,400 people have so far been confirmed contaminated by the virus.

You can find the latest information on the coronavirus situation in France here.

“We will continue to mobilise to counter this health crisis,” Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said on Sunday evening.

The PM said the government would organise new meetings with both the scientific council working specifically with the crisis and the opposition next week to “ensure complete transparency” on their dealings with the crisis.

Voters were instructed to keep a metre between themselves as they waited to cast their polls on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Sunday's local elections went ahead as planned, although voter turnout – despite the government's reassurances that polling stations would take all the necessary precautions to ensure the safety of voters.

“The high abstention rate shows that people are very worried,” the PM said.

Voter abstention was looking to be record high, at 56 percent at 8pm according to the French polling institute Elabe, against 36,45 percent in the last elections in 2014.

France ratcheted up its coronavirus regulations this weekend, ordering the closing of cafes, restaurants, schools and universities – all “non-essential commercial activity” – and limiting long-distance travel “to the strictly necessary.”

“We have observed that the first measures we have taken have not been correctly applied,” Philippe said on Saturday. “The best way to slow the virus is social distancing.”

French health authorities have stressed that 98 percent of people contaminated by the virus recover, but that it was essential to slow the acceleration of the epidemic by adopting measures of social distancing.

Only food stores, pharmacies (drug stores), banks and petrol stations were exempt from the ban and would be able to stay open in the coming weeks.

Bars, hotels and restaurants would still be able to maintain a minimum level of activity to make home deliveries, but they would not be able to receive customers on site.

READ MORE: What's closed (and what's open) in France following the new coronavirus restrictions

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HEALTH

France’s Covid-19 app to be ‘put to sleep’

France's Covid-tracker app, used for months for the all-important 'health pass' will be switched off today, health officials have confirmed.

Published: 30 June 2023 13:29 CEST
France’s Covid-19 app to be 'put to sleep'

Covid-19 screening in France reaches an important milestone on Friday, June 30th, 2023 – when the TousAntiCovid app is officially ‘put to sleep’.

The app, which was launched in June 2020 as France came out of its first lockdown of the pandemic and has undergone a number of iterations, including as a delivery device for the health pass, will be switched off. 

For most people, this anniversary will pass without mention. Few people have consulted the app in recent months, and it has sat dormant on many smartphones since France’s Covid-19 health pass requirement was suspended in March 2022.

Meanwhile, the Système d’Informations de DEPistage (SI-DEP) interface – which has been informing people about their test results since the Spring of 2020 – is also being shut down on June 30th, as per legal requirements.

The SI-DEP shutdown means that it will also be impossible to retrieve Covid test certificates issued before June 30th, should the need arise. All data held by the database will be “destroyed”, officials have said.

It has handled more than 320 million antigen and PCR tests since it was introduced.

This does not mean that testing for Covid-19 has stopped, or is now unnecessary. As reported recently, more than 1,000 deaths a week in Europe are still caused by the virus.

The shutdown of the national information system does not mean that people in France cannot still book an appointment for an antigen test at a pharmacy, or a PCR test at a laboratory. But the number of people going for testing is declining rapidly. In recent days, according to Le Parisien, just 15,000 people in France took a Covid test – the lowest number, it said, since the pandemic started.

Reimbursement rules for testing changed on March 1st, with only certain categories of people – minors, those aged 65 and over, or immunosuppressed patients – covered for the entire cost of testing.

From Friday, only PCR test results will be transmitted to authorities for data purposes, meaning pharmacists that only offer antigen testing will be locked out of the online interface to record test results.

The reason for the shift in priorities is to maintain “minimal epidemiological surveillance”, the Ministry of Health has reportedly told scientists.

As a result test certificates, showing a positive or negative result, will no longer be issued from July 1st. Since February 1st, anyone taking a test has had to give consent to share their data in order to obtain a certificate. 

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