France again confined from Friday

“I decided that it was necessary to find from Friday the confinement which stopped the virus. The whole territory is concerned ”, with the exception of developments in the Overseas Territories, declared the Head of State during a televised address.

This confinement will continue at least until the beginning of December, while all schools, nurseries, colleges and high schools will remain open with reinforced health protocols, said Mr. Macron who indicated that “online courses” will be privileged ” wherever possible ”in universities.

During the re-containment, bars, restaurants and “non-essential shops” will be closed “and work” can continue “during confinement, said the President of the Republic, noting however that” wherever possible, teleworking will be generalized again ”.

“The activity will continue with more intensity, which means that the counters of public services will remain open, factories, farms, buildings and public works will continue to operate,” he explained.

In addition, a “special plan” will be dedicated to self-employed workers, traders, as well as very small businesses and SMEs, he said, adding that employees and employers who cannot work will continue to benefit from partial unemployment which will be supplemented by cash measurements for charges and rents for the coming weeks.

“Every two weeks, we will take stock of the evolution of the epidemic, we will decide if necessary on additional measures and we will then assess whether we can alleviate certain constraints, in particular on shops”, explained Mr. Macron. .

Unlike the first confinement instituted between mid-March and mid-May, the Head of State indicated that visits to retirement homes and nursing homes will be authorized during the new confinement.

He further announced that “mandatory rapid tests” of Covid-19 will be deployed “for all arrivals” in “ports, airports”, and “for international travel”, advising that the internal borders at the Europe “will remain open” and “save exceptions, the external borders will remain closed”.

The French president announced at the same time that public meetings outside of family circles as well as interregional travel will be prohibited during confinement and that a derogatory certificate is necessary for parents to take their children to schools, or to do so. shopping or visiting a dependent person.

Mr. Macron again appealed to the sense of responsibility of his fellow citizens to respect the new measure, noting that if nothing is done, “at least 400,000” people would succumb to the virus within a few months in France.

According to him, in mid-November, 9,000 patients would be admitted to intensive care in France.

“If we do not put a brutal brake on contamination today, our hospitals will be saturated, without the possibility of transfer, because the virus is everywhere”, he insisted, specifying that the details of the new containment will be presented Thursday by the government.