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France must do everything possible to avoid a new coronavirus lockout as pressure on hospitals grows, Prime Minister Jean Castex said in an interview on Twitch’s website Sunday. He urged the French public to have faith in the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has stopped some European countries from raising concerns about blood clots after a jab.
The French government has so far resisted pressure from some health experts to block a new one-third lockout against rising case numbers.
Instead, it has put 6pm nationwide curfews and weekend locks in two provinces struggling to break out while major shopping centers need to be closed.
“We have to use all available weapons to avoid a lockout. I never hid it, vaccinated, defended ourselves, tested,” Castex said in his interview.
The health ministry reported on Sunday 26,343 new cases of Covid-19, down from 29,759 the previous day, while the number of people who died from the virus rose 140 to 90,429 in total.
At the same time, the number of people in intensive care units increased by 57 to 4,127, with emergency rehabilitation units running at almost 82% capacity, the highest since the end of November when France was in its second lockout.
“The situation is not improving, there is a higher and higher number of diseases and hospitals are very much under the care of many patients, whose average age is declining and who do not always have comorbidities, “Castex said.
The government plans to transport about 100 patients this week by air or special trains from the greater Paris area to other cities to help put pressure on hospitals in the capital.
‘We need to trust AstraZeneca’
Labor Minister Elizabeth Borne said on Sunday that she had tested positive for Covid-19 and would continue to work, the latest French official to catch the virus.
Meanwhile, France’s vaccination program has been gaining momentum with the 67,134 first shots on Sunday bringing the total to 5,128,872 or 7.7% of the population, the health ministry said. Some 2,239,389 have received both injections on Sunday.
In his Twitch interview, the French PM defended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which several European countries have dismissed over concerns about post-jab blood clots.
“We need to trust this vaccine and get vaccinated,” Castex said, warning that the country’s vaccination program would “fall behind”.
The World Health Organization, the European medicines watchdog, governments and experts have confirmed that no causal link has been established between the vaccine and bloodshed and have called for the bullet to be safe.
(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS)