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France, severely hit by the second wave of the coronavirus, has decreed a new national blockade of at least a month, although less severe than the spring one since schools, factories and public services will remain open.
“The virus is circulating in France at a speed that even the most pessimistic forecasts did not predict,” President Emmanuel Macron said in a televised speech, mourning the deaths of 527 people on Tuesday from COVID-19.
From this Thursday at midnight and at least until December 1, the French “will only be able to leave the house to go to work, for a medical visit, to help a relative, do the essential shopping or go out briefly to get some air”, the boss detailed. of the state.
Written statements will be required justifying departure, he said, suggesting that fines will be re-imposed on offenders.
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Bars, restaurants, museums and non-essential businesses will have to close their doors, but unlike the two-month blockade imposed between March and May during the first wave of the coronavirus, schools will remain open.
Likewise, factories, farms and the construction sector will be able to continue to function and public services will continue to serve.
“The economy must not stop or sink”, said the French president, who said he was looking for “the right balance between economy and health”.
Each month of imprisonment costs the French economy between 2 and 2.5 points of GDP, according to data from the Ministry of Public Accounts, but “nothing is more important than human lives,” Macron said.
“We must act now”
The French government had imposed a night curfew two weeks ago that forced two thirds of the population to stay home between 9pm and 6am the next day, but this measure, the French president admitted, “was not enough. “.
Since August, France has seen a strong resurgence in infections. On the government’s official website, authorities reported 244 hospital deaths in the past 24 hours on Wednesday, bringing the toll to 35,785 deaths in France since the start of the pandemic.
With over 3,000 patients in intensive care, that is more than half of the available beds occupied, the authorities fear above all the saturation of these units.
“If we don’t act now, France risks at least 400,000 more deaths” within a few months, Macron warned.
Although rumors of a new confinement have been circulating since yesterday, the announcement has fallen like a bucket of cold water for many French people.
“I feel like crying. I’m shocked (…) They should have done it sooner, instead of taking lukewarm measures,” a 30-year-old French woman, Morgane Lutgen, who listened to the president’s speech from a bar in the lively X district of Paris.
“The future had already darkened and is darkening again. But we have no choice. We hope this time it really works,” added Grégoire Marcotte, a 28-year-old waiter.
Faced with the nightmare of a second confinement, many Parisians took to the streets to escape the city. By 5pm there were 335 kilometers of traffic jams in the Paris region, double the normal.
Similarly, nervousness sank the Paris stock exchange, which closed down 3.4% on Wednesday.
Objective: to save Christmas
To mitigate losses, the government will grant small businesses forced to close aid of up to $ 11,700 per month.
Although travel between regions will be banned, European borders will remain open, but all people who want to enter France will have to undergo “quick tests” at the entrance to airports and ports.
“No traveler should be able to enter the European territory without being sure that he is not a carrier of the virus”, explained the president, adding that “with exceptions, the external borders will remain closed”.
“If we have the situation under better control in two weeks, we can reassess things and hope to open some businesses, especially for the Christmas holidays,” he said.
“I hope we can celebrate Christmas and New Year with the family,” he added.
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