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HEALTH

LATEST: Macron lays out three-stage ending of France’s lockdown

French President Emmanuel Macron has laid out a three-stage ending of the country's lockdown, beginning on Saturday with the reopening on non-essential shops.

LATEST: Macron lays out three-stage ending of France's lockdown
Emmanuel Macron on his TV appearance. Photo: AFP

Macron announced that some measures will be lifted from Saturday, November 28th, while others will be lifted on December 15th – if certain health conditions are met – and others from January 20th.

He said: “We have passed the peak of the second wave. Our efforts, your efforts, have paid off.

“We have slowed down the circulation of the virus. . . Today we have reached 5,000 cases per day.

“We still have several weeks in front of us to reach the goals that I have set,” Macron said, referring to decreasing hospital patient numbers further.

“To do that, we must continue for several weeks to avoid activities in enclosed places that accelerate the spread of the virus and limit gatherings as much as possible.

“Tonight I will fix a calendar.”

From Saturday, November 28th

  • 'Non essential' shops can reopen, until 9pm and under strict health conditions
  • The 1km rule is to be scrapped for exercise, instead people will be allowed to exercise for up to three hours a day, and go up to 20km from their homes.
  • Extra-curricular activities at schools can restart, but only outside
  • Religious services will be allowed again, for no more than 30 people

However the lockdown will continue, people must continue to work from home if they can and trips outside the home can only be made for essential reasons. An attestation will still be needed for every trip outside.

The next stage is from December 15th, and this will only happen if the number of new cases keeps below 5,000. Macron also said the aim was keep the number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care units below 3,000.

If these targets are met, on December 15th:

  • Lockdown will end and attestations will no longer be required. Travel between regions of France and meeting family and friends will be allowed
  • Large gatherings public gatherings are not permitted and private gatherings should be kept as small as possible, but there was no number limit
  • A 9pm to 7am curfew will apply to the whole country
  • The curfew will be lifted on December 24th and 31st
  • Extra-curricular school activities can restart indoors
  • Cinemas, theatres and museums can reopen, with strict health controls in place

The next phase begins on January 20th, and again depends on certain health targets being met, including keeping the case numbers below 5,000 per day.

Macron said: “Around January 20th we will be able to take, if possible, decisions on opening up further.”

On January 20th, if conditions are met

  • The reopening of restaurants and cafés, as well as gyms and leisure centres
  • Restarting of full-time in-person teaching in lycées, and then 15 days later in universities. At present both lycées and universities are doing a mixture of online and in-person teaching, while universities are limited to 50 percent capacity in lecture halls.
  • The abolition of the curfew

Macron did not mention bars at all.

As for ski holiday resorts he said: “It seems impossible to plan for them to open for the holidays but we should aim for a reopening sometime in January.”

Prime Minister Jean Castex will hold a press conference on Thursday morning to provide more details.

International travel

Macron did not mention international travel, but in France's second lockdown the border rules for those entering the country from within the EU, the UK or the Schengen area are the same as the lockdown rules.

International travel – like travel within France – has only been permitted during lockdown for essential reasons, but once this is lifted on December 15th, there remain no border restrictions for travellers from within Europe. The Local has asked the Interior Ministry to confirm this.

Travel from outside Europe, however, is still limited to essential trips only and reopening EU borders will be done on a coordinated level within the European community.

All EU countries have the right to make their own border rules, but France has stated throughout that it will follow EU guidelines on when to reopen the borders to non-European travellers.

Many other countries, including the UK, have in place rules on testing or quarantines for arrivals from France.

For the latest on travel in and out of France – click here.

Health situation

The announcement comes against the background of some positive health news, which appears to show that the country's second lockdown of 2020 is having the desired effect.

From a peak of 50,000 new cases a day, health authorities reported 4,452 new positives on Monday. The test positivity rate has fallen from 20 percent to 13.3 percent and the R at 0.65 (meaning every new Covid case will infect less than one new person on average).

Hospitals have seen pressure ease over the last two weeks, with the number of patients dropping and intensive care patient numbers beginning to flatten out.

However, the pressure on intensive care units is still alarmingly high, Covid-19 occupancy on Monday was at 87.8 percent, according to government data, and daily deaths still number in the hundreds. 

Macron also spoke about testing and vaccines, saying the country hopes to begin the first vaccines in late December or early January.

He also said he would not make the vaccine compulsory, as had been discussed in some quarters because of France's historically high level of vaccine-scepticism.

He added: “At the beginning of January, no test should take more than 24 hours between the test request and its result.”

 

 

 

Member comments

  1. Well, this isn’t so terrible. I was expecting worse….
    Let’s hope that cases are kept down, so that we can be “free again” on the 20th Jan. LOL…

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HEALTH

How serious is the threat from dengue fever in France?

As tiger mosquitoes are now present in over 80 percent of mainland France, health authorities are worried that local transmission of tropical diseases, like dengue fever, will increase.

How serious is the threat from dengue fever in France?

As of January 2024, tiger mosquitoes – known for their ability to carry diseases such as dengue, chikungunya and Zika virus – had been detected in 78 of France’s 96 mainland départements, including the Paris region.

This has left public health authorities concerned about the spread of dengue fever in France, particularly this summer as large crowds are expected amid the Olympic Games.

READ MORE: MAP: Tiger mosquitoes reach northern France

How common is dengue fever in France?

In the first four months of 2024, 1,679 cases of dengue fever were identified in mainland France, a number that is 13 times higher than the same period last year, Le Parisien reported.

Crucially, however, none of these are believed to have been contracted in mainland France – they were all reported among patients who had recently travelled from the tropical regions where dengue fever is common.

The majority of cases were from people who had visited the Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe – where the disease is endemic.

These islands are for administrative purposes part of France – so often show up in French health data – but they are roughly 7,000km away from Paris.

So far, there have not been any indigenous cases (autochtone – or people infected on mainland French soil) yet this year.

Local transmission of the disease remains relatively rare. In 2023, nine separate outbreaks of indigenous dengue transmission were identified, one of which occurred in the Paris region. These led to 45 cases of local transmission (in mainland France).

Most were in southern France – in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, Occitanie and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions – though one outbreak occurred in the Paris region, according to French public health authorities.

This is less than 2022, which was a notable year with 66 total cases of indigenous dengue fever were recorded. In comparison, between 2010 and 2021, only 48 cases (total) were recorded.

What to expect for 2024

Experts believe that the number of cases in France, including indigenous ones, will grow this year, as tiger mosquitoes now occupy more territory in mainland France.

On top of that, the number of cases has increased significantly in Martinique and Guadeloupe.

“What we see in France is a mirror image of what is happening in the French Caribbean, and more widely in Latin America and the rest of the Caribbean, where dengue fever has been circulating since the start of the year at unprecedented levels”, the head of Santé Publique France, Dr Caroline Semaille, said during a press conference.

The Olympic Games will also bring an influx of tourists from all over the world, and weather conditions are expected to be conducive to mosquitoes – a year with a lot of rainfall, and potentially high temperatures. 

What is dengue fever?

The disease is spread to people from bites by infected mosquitoes.

The most common symptoms are high fever, chills, abdominal, joint and muscle pains, and vomiting. It can also cause a skin rash that resembles measles, according to France’s Institut Pasteur.

Symptoms usually begin three to 14 days (with an average of four to seven) after being bitten.

However people are asymptomatic in 50 to 90 percent of cases (depending on the epidemic), which can make monitoring difficult.

At-risk groups include the immunocompromised, children and the elderly, who are more likely to suffer from severe forms of the disease.

Deaths from the disease are very rare, occurring in around 0.01 percent of all cases, almost all in countries that have poor healthcare systems.

How can I avoid tiger mosquitoes?

Female tiger mosquitoes lay their eggs in water, and they can lay several hundred eggs at once. Therefore try to avoid having any standing water outside your home and be aware of the items that might collect rainwater.

This includes regularly emptying vases, flower pots, as well as watering cans and pots. If you want to collect rainwater, you could cover water butts with mosquito nets or fabric to keep the mosquitoes from getting inside.

READ ALSO 5 plants that (allegedly) repel mosquitoes

You can also keep your gutters clean – this helps to keep the water flowing when it rains, and it avoids any stagnant pools from building up.

To protect yourself, try to wear long, loose and light-coloured clothing, in addition to insect repellent. You might also consider wearing a mosquito net head gear.

The main difference between tiger mosquitoes and other species would be getting a bite during the day, and the fact that tiger mosquitoes are likely to bite several times. You can tell for sure if it was a tiger mosquito by seeing the insect itself. They are also silent.

There is no immediate cause for alarm if you are bitten, in almost all cases the bites are just itchy and annoying. In very rare cases, tropical diseases can be spread by the mosquitoes – seek medical help if you develop a high fever and rash.

READ MORE: How to prevent the spread of tiger mosquitoes in France

What do tiger mosquitoes look like?

They are very small, about 5 mm, and they have a highly contrasting colour, with black and white stripes on their body and legs.

If you believe you have spotted a tiger mosquito, you can report it to public health authorities online.

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