Third lockdown ‘not ruled out’ in France if Covid worsens

France has not ruled out a third lockdown in the event that the Covid-19 health situation worsens, the health minister has said today, as the country’s vaccination programme begins.

Health Minister Olivier Véran told newspaper le Journal du Dimanche: “We never exclude measures that could be necessary to protect the population. That does not mean that we have decided [one way or another] but we are following the situation hour by hour.”

Health authorities have been considering the possibility of a third lockdown in the weeks after Christmas for a while, especially as daily Covid case numbers had already been increasing before the holidays.

Read more: Leading French doctor says Covid-19 ‘not under control’

Mr Véran said: “There are 15,000 cases every day on average, when at one point we had reduced this to 11,000. The objective of 5,000 [cases per day] is getting further away.

“Pressure on the health system is still high, with 1,500 hospitalisations per day, a level of tension that is scarcely lower in intensive care [units].”

He added: “We are ready to take the necessary measures if the situation gets worse.”

Local lockdowns?

The minister addressed the idea of possible local lockdowns as an alternative - or initial measure - to locking down the entire country.

He said that this could begin in the worst-affected areas, such as “Grand Est, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and the Alpes-Maritimes department, starting with Nice [which have seen] a rise in case numbers among older people in some rural areas”.

Christmas and New Year effect

Mr Véran explained that rather than impose a lockdown over Christmas, as some countries had done, France had “made the choice to have stricter measures earlier, to allow the public to breathe during the Christmas festivities”.

But although he said that “this had worked”, he conceded that it perhaps had not “worked enough”, as there were 40,000 new cases reported in the 48 hours over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

He said: “We will know quickly if family and Christmas gatherings have had an impact.”

The curfew from 20:00 to 06:00 was lifted on Christmas Eve (December 24) and families were permitted to gather to celebrate, although people were advised to take precautions and to not mix between households more than necessary.

Read more: What were the rules on Christmas Eve in France? No curfew but safety advice applied

Mr Véran said that people in France should not meet to celebrate the New Year. He said: “We cannot, for the sake of one night, take the risk of [needing to] lock down the country again for weeks.”

Vaccinations begin

Mr Véran’s comments come as vaccinations begin in France.

Around a dozen elderly people and one healthcare worker at the long-term care unit at the René-Muret de Sevran hospital in Seine-Saint-Denis will be among the first to be vaccinated.

Residents at the Champmaillot elderly care centre at the Dijon CHU will also be among those to receive the first vaccine.

Mr Véran reminded people: “This vaccine protects 95% of individuals from a severe form [of Covid-19] and will save many lives. For elderly people, the risk of dying from Covid-19 is high.”

President Emmanuel Macron tweeted today: "We have a new weapon against the virus: The vaccine. Let's hold on, together."

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