French health minister warns third lockdown cannot be ruled out

French Minister of Health Olivier Véran has warned that the establishment of a third lockdown in France cannot be ruled out if the level of Covid-19 infections “were to worsen”.

Speaking to the weekly Journal du Dimanche, Véran said: “We will never rule out measures that may be necessary to protect the population. This does not mean that we have made our decision, but that we continue to monitor the situation. On time. “

French authorities fear the arrival of a third wave in the weeks following the Christmas holidays, especially since the spread of the virus remains high in the country, with around 15,000 infections now recorded per day, while the rate had previously been lowered to 11,000 daily cases. “

Rural France is the most affected
Véran also reiterated the government’s goal of reducing the number of cases per day to less than 5,000. “The pressure on the health system remains high, with 1,500 hospitalizations per day,” the minister said, adding that the Macron administration is ready to take “the necessary measures if the situation worsens”.

The situation is already worrying in eastern France, the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté regions and the Alpes-Maritimes department, with a significant increase in the incidence of Covid-19 among the elderly in rural areas.

While many countries have already taken 2^nd lockdown measures, according to Véran, France implemented “strict and difficult measures earlier to let the French breathe during the [Christmas] “Although he acknowledged that the measures have not fully worked with more than 40,000 new cases of Covid recorded in the 48 hours between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Curfew remains, vaccines are deployed
Only 3,093 cases were recorded in France on Saturday with the Christmas holidays and the closure of laboratories, but Véran noted that “we will quickly know if the family and festive gatherings have had an impact. [on Covid figures]”Following the temporary lifting of the curfew on Christmas Eve, when most French people have their Christmas dinner.

The 8 p.m. curfew will however remain in place for New Year’s Eve with Véran advising people not to celebrate – “You can’t, one evening, risk closing the country for weeks.”

Véran’s comments in the Journal du Dimanche come as France began rolling out its innoculation program on Sunday, following approval of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine for use by the European Medicines Agency last week.