'Too early to cry victory' - but no new health restrictions expected in France until after the school holidays
No new restrictions, but a warning that the health situation could change for the worse at any time, was the French government's message following Wednesday's Defence Council meeting held to assess the latest Covid data.
Following the meeting, government spokesman Gabriel Attal announced no changes to the current health rules, but stressed that it was crucial that people continued to respect the rules in place.
"The situation is so fragile that anything can tip it over," Attal told journalists. "It would not be reasonable to relax our efforts or to cry victory."
? Gabriel Attal, porte-parole du Gouvernement, Compte rendu du Conseil des ministres du 17 février 2021 https://t.co/CnnTTi5ln5
— Christophe Frot (@FrotChristophe) February 17, 2021
Schools in some regions of France are currently on holiday and government sources had previously said that new restrictions are not expected before the end of the holiday period on March 8th, unless the health situation deteriorates dramatically.
READ ALSO February holidays in France - what are the rules and what is the advice
"Let's give the French a bit of breathing space," one source was quoted as telling French media, while Prime Minister Jean Castex is not scheduled to be part of the regular Thursday evening press conference.
At present the situation in France is relatively stable, although several départements are giving cause for concern with high rates of the new variants of the Covid virus.
Overall the number of new Covid cases have seen a slight but sustained fall, from a daily average of 20,000 new cases last week to 18,000 this week.
France's Covid case numbers continue to drop, even without a lockdown. If things continue like this, ?? will count 15,600 new cases on average per week in 10 days, which is down from over 18,000 now and 20,000 just one week ago. Beware of big regional differences though. https://t.co/GhlNpIa9RU
— Ingri Bergo (@ingribergo) February 16, 2021
Hospital occupancy rates have also dropped slightly, though Attal said "the pressure on hospitals, especially in intensive care units, remains very high."
Several eastern regions have areas where Covid patients occupy over 70 percent of the total intensive care capacity. In Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur, the region encompassing Nice and the French Riviera, hospitals are at the brink of saturation, with Covid patients filling 97 percent of the total capacity in all of the region's départements.
The emergence of new variants also continues to worry health chiefs, with new variants including the UK, South African and Brazilian variants now accounting for 25 percent of all cases in France.
READ ALSO What is France doing to control the spread of new variants of Covid?
The eastern département of Moselle has reported 300 cases of new variants within a week, which officials say cannot be linked to travel or a single cluster.
Health chiefs will also be watching nervously to see if travel and family visits over the February school holidays leads to a post-holiday spike in cases.
For this reason France is unlikely to see a significant relaxation of the rules currently in place in the coming weeks, although ministers are discussing a possible reopening of some cultural sites such as museums while Culture Minister Roselyn Bachelot has announced a series of 'experimental' concerts with strict health rules in Paris and Marseille in the spring.
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? Gabriel Attal, porte-parole du Gouvernement, Compte rendu du Conseil des ministres du 17 février 2021 https://t.co/CnnTTi5ln5
— Christophe Frot (@FrotChristophe) February 17, 2021
READ ALSO February holidays in France - what are the rules and what is the advice
"Let's give the French a bit of breathing space," one source was quoted as telling French media, while Prime Minister Jean Castex is not scheduled to be part of the regular Thursday evening press conference.
At present the situation in France is relatively stable, although several départements are giving cause for concern with high rates of the new variants of the Covid virus.
Overall the number of new Covid cases have seen a slight but sustained fall, from a daily average of 20,000 new cases last week to 18,000 this week.
France's Covid case numbers continue to drop, even without a lockdown. If things continue like this, ?? will count 15,600 new cases on average per week in 10 days, which is down from over 18,000 now and 20,000 just one week ago. Beware of big regional differences though. https://t.co/GhlNpIa9RU
— Ingri Bergo (@ingribergo) February 16, 2021
Hospital occupancy rates have also dropped slightly, though Attal said "the pressure on hospitals, especially in intensive care units, remains very high."
Several eastern regions have areas where Covid patients occupy over 70 percent of the total intensive care capacity. In Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur, the region encompassing Nice and the French Riviera, hospitals are at the brink of saturation, with Covid patients filling 97 percent of the total capacity in all of the region's départements.
The emergence of new variants also continues to worry health chiefs, with new variants including the UK, South African and Brazilian variants now accounting for 25 percent of all cases in France.
READ ALSO What is France doing to control the spread of new variants of Covid?
The eastern département of Moselle has reported 300 cases of new variants within a week, which officials say cannot be linked to travel or a single cluster.
Health chiefs will also be watching nervously to see if travel and family visits over the February school holidays leads to a post-holiday spike in cases.
For this reason France is unlikely to see a significant relaxation of the rules currently in place in the coming weeks, although ministers are discussing a possible reopening of some cultural sites such as museums while Culture Minister Roselyn Bachelot has announced a series of 'experimental' concerts with strict health rules in Paris and Marseille in the spring.
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