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HEALTH

France ‘still far’ from ending partial virus lockdown

French authorities are unlikely to lift a partial coronavirus lockdown any time soon, a government spokesman said Wednesday, even if some restrictions may be relaxed before Christmas.

Published: 18 November 2020 17:20 CET
France 'still far' from ending partial virus lockdown
A pedestrian walks past the closed terrace of Les Deux Magots cafe on boulevard Saint-Germain, on the fourth day of a lockdown aimed at containing the spread of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) in Par

President Emmanuel Macron and top ministers discussed the crisis, including whether to ease some restrictions from December 1st “if conditions allow it,” spokesman Gabriel Attal said.

But Attal insisted: “We're not at all near ending the lockdown, we're still far from it even.”

Declines in daily new Covid-19 cases since a second nationwide lockdown began on October 30th have sparked a chorus of calls from business associations to let stores open as soon as November 27th for the “Black Friday” sales that kick off the holiday shopping season.

If not, they fear losing out to internet giants such as Amazon, expected to target stuck-at-home shoppers.

“Our fear is simple: The loss of many of our businesses, both small and large, and with them hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country,” dozens of business leaders wrote to Prime Minister Jean Castex this week.

The French mayors' association AMF also called Wednesday for a gradual reopening of stores soon, “to avoid a rush of clients ahead of Christmas, when allowing them to resume operations will be inevitable.”

READ ALSO The next key dates in France's lockdown to look out for

But Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire on Wednesday called on retailers – including e-commerce firms – to postpone the Black Friday bargain extravaganza.

Macron himself is again expected to address the nation on the virus crisis next week, in particular on prospects for travel and family gatherings for the fast-approaching holiday break.

But officials are wary of taking a “stop and go” approach to fighting the outbreak even if the pandemic slows, since hospitals remain packed with Covid-19 patients.

Health authorities on Tuesday reported 437 coronavirus deaths in the preceding 24 hours, and a total of 4,854 patients in intensive care.

This meant nearly 96 percent of intensive care beds available before the crisis erupted are now full – though the government has scrambled to make new ones available.

The number of daily new infections on Tuesday stood at 12,587, far below the 50,000 to 60,000 when Macron announced the new partial lockdown last month.

But Macron said the number of daily cases must fall below 5,000 before the government could start significantly easing the latest restrictions.

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HEALTH

France reports nearly 200 cholera cases in Mayotte

Nearly 200 cases of cholera have been reported on the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, which is struggling to contain the deadly epidemic.

Published: 21 June 2024 14:08 CEST
France reports nearly 200 cholera cases in Mayotte

“As of June 18th, 2024, 193 cases of cholera have been reported in Mayotte,” France’s Santé publique France health agency reported in its weekly update.

Of those, 172 were locally acquired cases, while 21 were in people infected in the neighbouring Comoros archipelago and countries on the African continent.

Cholera is an infectious disease typically causing severe diarrhoea, vomiting and muscle cramps. It spreads easily in unsanitary conditions.

Mayotte, which is home to around 320,000 people, reported its first locally acquired cases of cholera in late April, according to officials in Paris.

Two people have died since the beginning of the epidemic, one of them a three-year-old girl.

Santé publique France warned there was a particularly high risk of transmission in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, “as long as access to drinking water and sanitation is unsatisfactory”.

French authorities have been criticised for failing to secure access to drinking water to prevent a cholera epidemic in its overseas territory.

President Emmanuel Macron called for cholera to be ‘consigned to the past’ when he hosted a summit on Thursday on vaccine production in Africa.

Many parts of Africa have recently seen fatal outbreaks of cholera, which has highlighted the shortage of local vaccine production.

The Comoros, which has been affected by a cholera epidemic for the past four months, has recorded 134 deaths and more than 8,700 cases, according to a report published by local authorities this month.

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