COVID-19 Record of infections in France, Macron: “I don’t exclude a new lockdown”

Last updated on March 7th, 2023 at 06:33 am

In France, the coronavirus has started running again, and now Macron does not rule out a new lockdown. Today a new record of positive cases was recorded: 7,379 in the last 24 hours, according to the Directorate General of Health. New record also for the swabs: almost 900,000 in the previous week (893,146).”I would not have learned enough from what we have been experiencing for a few months if I told you that I exclude a new lockdown,” said the French president, Emmanuel Macron, answering a question about the possibility of a new total closure of the country in front to the Coronavirus infection.

“I would not have learned enough from what we have been experiencing for a few months if I told you that I exclude a new lockdown,”

French president, Emmanuel Macron

Speaking in front of the presidential press, Macron added that he is preparing to do everything to prevent it. A turnaround compared to a few hours earlier, when during a visit to a pharmaceutical factory he had described as “counterproductive” and “ineffective” to close the borders between EU countries as a measure to stop the increase in Covid-19 infections. Closing the frontiers between the countries makes no sense when there are outbreaks, areas of active circulation, clearly identified. Europe has millions of cross-border workers, some of whom travel between regions of different countries not affected by the virus, and it would be “absurd” to hinder “everyday life, economic life”, warned Macron, urging them to not repeat mistakes of March.

However, the French Health Service now underlines that the dynamics of the epidemic progression are exponential and that hospital indicators are increasing. Paris recorded 20 deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 30,596 since the beginning of the epidemic. The number of hospitalizations remained stable at 4,535, while that of severe patients in reanimation increased by 6 to 387.The reproduction rate of Covid-19 has doubled from 0.7 to 1.4, and the number of cases has increased fourfold compared to last month. Eight hundred hospitalized patients per week and 21 French provinces were declared as the red zone. Paris extended the obligation to wear a mask, except for not crowded places. Prime Minister Jean Castex went so far as to say that: “something is happening that scientists had not foreseen. We have to react now”.

The gross domestic product of France fell by 13.8% in the second quarter of 2020. According to the statistical institute Insee, the fall coincides with the cessation of non-essential activities in the context of the containment implemented between mid-March and early May to stem the Covid-19 epidemic. The emergency led to a drop in household consumption and exports. In the quarter from January to March, the French economy had already contracted by 5.9%. The lockdown started in mid-March and ended on 11 May.Consumer prices in France fell 0.1% in August with inflation slowing to + 0.2% from 0.8% in July. That is the estimate also widespread by the Insee statistical institute, which specifies how the slowdown is due in particular to the retardation in food prices but also the shift in balances.

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