Issued by: Change:
French Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Thursday that the coronavirus situation in France remained precarious but for now a new national closure was not necessary.
Castex said the rate of the disease had not risen significantly in the past two weeks, even if the pressure on French hospitals remained strong.
“We need to keep to our current constraints … but today’s situation does not justify a new national closure,” he told a news conference.
Castex acknowledged that many other countries had started their vaccination campaign sooner than France but said this was due to the French government’s decision to start with the most vulnerable people in old age care homes.
Although they make up only one percent of the population, he said, they have accounted for nearly a third of the more than 77,000 COVID-19 deaths since the outbreak began.
By the end of this week all age care residents will receive the first vaccination view, with the second sight to come in early March, he said.
The government aims to offer the vaccine to all adults in France before the end of the summer.
Castex said the first doses of AstraZeneca vaccine should arrive in France by the end of the week, helping the government reach its target of four million inoculations by the end of the month.
He said France’s tense pressure had allowed the economy to remain more open than some neighbors had been able to, but warned it could not let go and called on companies to force more remote work from home.
“It’s important to work from home whenever possible,” he said.
He also announced a three-week lockout for the French island of Mayotte, located off the coast of Mozambique, which has been infected with the South African strain of the virus.
“Now is not the time to make it easier,” he said, adding that if there was a spike in disease, it would not delay moving loops on free movement.
(REUTERS)