PARIS (AP) – French president says he has no reason to lament the refusal to impose a third national blockade earlier this year, although growing coronavirus infections are stressing his hospitals. country and more than 1,000 people with the virus die each week.
The government of President Emmanuel Macron has stressed the importance of keeping children in school and businesses in the fleet as the pandemic spreads into a second year. The families of French victims of COVID-19 say, however, that Macron has turned a blind eye to his suffering.
“We were right not to implement a closure in France in late January because we didn’t have the explosion of cases that all models anticipated,” Macron said Thursday at the end of a European Union summit. “It simply came to our notice then. I have no regrets and I do not acknowledge the failure. “
For months, France has advocated a “third way” between confinement and freedom, including a national curfew and closing restaurants, museums, cinemas, gyms, many shopping malls and some other businesses. The measures kept France’s infection rate constant for a while, but it has risen sharply again this month.
France has recorded the fourth highest number of confirmed virus cases and one of the highest pandemic pivots, with 93,378 lives lost. Intensive care units are again at or beyond their capacity in Paris and several other regions due to a flood of critically ill COVID-19 patients.
Many medical workers have urged the French government for weeks to impose stronger restrictions in response to the most contagious virus variant first identified in Britain, which is now the dominant form of the virus in France.
“There is no zero virus situation, and this is true for all European countries. We are not an island, and even the islands that had been protected sometimes saw the virus return, “Macron said.” But we felt that with the curfew and the measures we had we could cope. “
Relatives of people with COVID-19 who died went on social media to express their anger over Macron’s comments.
“I started listening to him and he started to irritate me and I had to change channels,” said Lionel Petitpas, whose wife, Joelle, died last year.
“It’s crazy. Macron, the prime minister, always believes he is making the right decision. As a citizen, I declare no, because we are in exactly the same situation as a year ago, “Petitpas, who founded an association to allow families to mourn the victims of the virus, told The Associated Press.
He acknowledged the challenges facing those who have lost jobs and livelihoods due to the pandemic. But he asked, “What sense does an economy make if no one is healthy enough to make it work?”
While the government is determined to avoid a new national shutdown, Macron said tougher measures could be announced in the coming days. Last week, the government closed non-essential stores and imposed travel restrictions for residents in Paris and several other regions, but some doctors fear there will not be enough to curb the new outbreak.
“We are 100% busy for almost a month. We have expanded our capabilities to the fullest, “Dr. Mohamed El Hadi Djerad of Pierre Beregovoy Hospital in Nevers, Burgundy, told France-3.” We are in a crisis situation. ”
The infection rate in the Burgundy region doubled in two weeks.