President Macron annouces new measures against Covid

[NormanH]

In a 45 minute interview in which he showed a good grasp of detail and little waffle[:P]

https://www.france.tv/actualites-et-societe/magazines-d-actu/2030317-interview-du-president-de-la-republique-emmanuel-macron.html

Residents of major French cities including the Paris region are to be confined to their homes between 9pm and 6am, Emmanuel Macron has said, as governments across Europe battle to contain record numbers of Covid-19 infections.

The French president used a prime-time TV interview on Wednesday to

announce the curfew, which will be in place for four weeks from midnight

on Saturday and will affect nine cities including Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse and Lille.

Macron said:

The situation is worrying but not out of control. We are in a second wave that is happening all across Europe.

France’s health ministry on Wednesday announced 22,950 new

coronavirus cases and said 32% of the country’s intensive care beds were

occupied by patients with Covid-19. The government restored a national

state of health emergency minutes before the president spoke.

Macron said the objective was to reduce the number of new infections

per day to between 3,000 and 5,000, and he warned that the country would

have to live with the virus until at least next summer.

He said:

We have to act. We need to put a brake on the spread of the virus. We

have to reduce the number of social contacts … of festive contacts,

that are taking place. It will demand a big effort from everyone – but

it is necessary.

A full nationwide lockdown would be “disproportionate”, Macron said,

and state aid would again be available to employers in sectors that

would be most affected, such as hospitality and entertainment.

“People will have to forget about night-time visits to restaurants or

to friends’ houses,” he said. Essential trips during curfew would still

be allowed, but people breaking the new rules would face a fine of €135

(£120).

[Kong]

Whether this will be sufficient we will see, but I like his forthrightness. I wish the blonde numpties to the North and quite far west of us were remotely so intelligent!

[alittlebitfrench]

This will have noooo effect whatsoever.

You can catch a crowded metro/RER at 8am but can't walk the dog a 5AM.

Besides, thousands will leave these hotspots over the next two weeks on vacance and spread covid to the rest of France. Toussaint is one of the biggest times of the year when families meet up.

So basically, in 3 weeks time everywhere in France will be a hotspot.

Then we will lockdown.

Why not just lockdown now for three weeks ?

Why spread the infections further ?