COVID-19 EPIDEMIC: In the past 24 hours, France has recorded 4,203 new positive coronavirus cases and 25 additional deaths
Faced with the acceleration of cases of contamination with the coronavirus, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, this Tuesday, the French to be “more vigilant” in respecting barrier gestures “in moments of private life”.
“We must not relax in moments of private life because it is often in private parties, in family moments, that contaminations are made”, declared the president during a trip to Auvergne, specifying that new measures to fight the virus will be discussed on Friday at a health defence council.
A “worrying” situation
In particular, the question of “the differentiated use of our tests” will be raised, between “nasopharyngeal tests” for example and “saliva” or “antigenic” tests, “much simpler and faster,” said Emmanuel Macron. The Minister of Health Olivier Véran said on Tuesday to wait “imminently for the results of experiments that have been carried out” on these saliva tests. Rapid screening tests, known as “antigenic”, will be deployed from this week, he also said. The Head of State asked whether it would not be necessary, in the face of the “queues which are created”, “to succeed in having priority audiences such as symptomatic people”.
While the number of positive cases continues to increase, we must also “study what to do in areas where there is (are) more and more”, he added, deeming “worrying” the re-increase in the “number of cases arriving at the hospital urgently”. It is about being “collectively much more responsible and vigilant on the isolation” of positive patients, he continued, calling for “to redo the pedagogy so that each and every one, when he is tested positive, respect the rules ”.
Jean Castex screened
More generally, “we must not slack off in moments of private life because it is often in private parties, in family moments, that contaminations are made,” he wished. These moments of relaxation, “it is quite normal”, conceded the Head of State, calling for “to make responsible, and in no case to blame”.
Jean Castex will undergo a Covid-19 screening test, after having rubbed shoulders with Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme on Saturday, detected positive on Tuesday. Asked about this, Emmanuel Macron said that the government seminar scheduled for Wednesday could be delayed, or would perhaps be held “in video with regard to the Prime Minister and possible other contact cases”.
