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The first of several medical transfers has started for a handful of Covid-19 patients from the Paris suburbs to elsewhere in France as intensive care services in the region twist under stress. Others will follow on Sunday. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Jean Castex said health workers will have to “adjust” to the new circumstances following news of another delay in AstraZeneca vaccine deliveries.
According to Journal Le Parisien.
They were transported by helicopter to hospitals in western France, according to the health authorities (ARS), while three other patients will also be transferred on Sunday to clinics in southwestern New Aquitaine and the center of Pays de la Loire.
There are more than 5,500 patients hospitalized with Covid in Ile-de-France, including 1,100 in intensive care.
Razor edge
Earlier in the week, Prime Minister Jean Castex and Minister of Health Olivier Véran insisted that hospitals deprogram 40% of their non-emergency operations to make room for the growing number of Covid patients. As of Saturday, that figure had only reached 23%.
“We are walking a razor’s edge,” admitted French Prime Minister Jean Castex, in an interview with The world daily newspaper. “The situation is very worrying,” he said, adding that “we must be ready at all times to take additional measures if necessary”.
However, the Prime Minister has ruled out for now the idea of another strict lockdown in Paris, to the astonishment of some doctors and experts. For now, he is banking on the logistics of the transfer program and on the 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew that remains in effect across the country.
The government is also banking on the possibility of organizing other medical transfers by train, operated by the SNCF company, as was done at the peak of the first wave of the virus in March and April 2020.
200 patients were transported by train from the Paris region to other regions at this time.
Vaccination delays
Saturday morning, during a visit to a vaccination center in the central region of Deux-Sèvres, Castex was invited to react to the new announcement from the AstraZenaca laboratory according to which further delays could be expected for their vaccines at European level.
“We have targeted 10 million vaccinations by April 15 and I hope we stick to that deadline. But we have to be careful because some labs have caused delivery issues, so we will have to adapt.”
AstraZeneca, for its part, claims production has been outsourced to laboratories outside the EU, meaning that export restrictions caused delays in the first quarter, which will necessarily lead to delays in the second quarter. .
At the EU level, Austria and several other countries have called for a meeting to discuss vaccine quotas ordered at the bloc level. They are unhappy with the system in place, saying their countries’ needs have not been carefully considered and deployment is too slow.
Elderly restrictions relaxed
In other developments, the Minister of Autonomy, Brigitte Bourgignon, announced on Friday that the restrictions would be less severe for residents of Ephads, or retirement homes for the elderly.
From Saturday, they could leave their apartments and visit relatives if they had received the double vaccine.
“They won’t need to test or self-isolate if they’ve been given two doses of the vaccine,” she said, adding that those who are not yet vaccinated could go out but should get out. self-isolate for seven days upon their return.
This in order to put an end to the feeling of isolation encountered by many residents and their families.
France has now reached a death toll of 90,146, an increase of more than 200 in the past 24 hours.
24,749 patients are currently hospitalized across the country, more than 4,000 in intensive care.
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