Hint of hope as Macron suggests restrictions could ease in ‘4-6 weeks’

President Emmanuel Macron gave the French a glimmer of hope by suggesting that restrictive measures to curb Covid-19 infections, in particular the 6 p.m. national curfew, could start to be lifted in four to six weeks. This is the first time the President has given an indication of a timetable for easing restrictions.

Macron spoke during a visit to Stains, in the Seine-Saint-Denis region of Greater Paris, a poor region that has been hit hard by the epidemic. He met young people in training and seniors coming to be vaccinated, The Parisian reported.

The youth training program visited by Macron is run by Industreet, which specializes in training programs for young people aged 18 to 25 with a focus on automated production lines, energy and 3D printing. It benefits from the support of Total, the French multinational oil company.

“ Hard ” curfew

During the visit, a young man asked Macron if he could push back the start of the hourly curfew, saying the 6pm stay-at-home rule was ‘tough’.

“We have to hold out for a few more weeks … four to six weeks,” Macron replied.

This is the time frame envisaged by the government for the effects of its vaccination strategy to begin to manifest.

“In four to six weeks, we will have vaccinated more French people, which will have an impact on the evolution of the epidemic,” the presidency said later.

‘Need to breathe’

Later Monday, the president visited a Covid-19 vaccination center in Bobigny – his first visit since the deployment began, and was faced with similar questions about the curfew.

In the queue of vulnerable people over the age of 75, a man told Macron people “need to breathe”, especially with the balmy end of winter in recent days, The Parisian reported.

“I promise you that we will do whatever we can,” Macron told him. “What you say is true. This is what a lot of French people feel.”

The man admitted that the president had a difficult job managing the government’s response to the outbreak.

Challenges ahead

The president’s apparent message of hope comes just after the government imposed a weekend lockdown on Nice and the surrounding Côte d’Azur region and the northern city of Dunkirk to curb the surge in business in Covid.

Twenty other departments, including the capital Paris, are under reinforced surveillance due to high levels of new infections.

Over the weekend, top French public health official Jérôme Salomon praised the effectiveness of the 6 p.m. curfew, saying a new lockdown could be avoided if everyone plays their part.

Several hospitals in the west of France have decided to slow down their vaccination campaigns because of the strong side effects of certain vaccines among health workers.

France’s vaccination campaign was slow to start, with many elderly people unwilling to receive the vaccine.