PARIS (Reuters) – French Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Tuesday that the time had come for additional coronavirus restrictions in the Paris region as the country enters a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
France is facing a steady increase in new cases, which is putting strong pressure on the hospital system, especially in the capital, where infections have increased.
French health authorities on Tuesday reported 29,975 new cases across the country, a weekly jump of 4.5%, the most intense in a month and a half.
“It seems to me that the time has come to consider new measures in the great Paris region,” Castex said in an interview with BFM TV.
Castex said the weekend closures, like those already in two other regions, were part of the measures to be considered for the greater Paris region at a meeting on Wednesday.
“There’s no reason why we shouldn’t do in one region what we’re doing in another,” he said.
Like other EU countries, France has lagged far behind the United States or Britain in vaccinating its population.
President Emmanuel Macron still hopes that a vaccination action can prevent the effects of a new wave of pandemic triggered by more contagious variants and prevent France from resorting to a third national blockade.
But the suspension of the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, announced Monday for safety reasons, could jeopardize the strategy.
Castex said it was ready to get the AstraZeneca vaccine if European health authorities confirmed its safety.
The Ministry of Health said there were 4,239 patients in COVID-19 intensive care units, an increase of 20 in 24 hours and a maximum of almost four months. The total number of people hospitalized for the disease was 25,492, a high since February 24.
The death toll rose by 408, to 91,170.
Reports from Benoit Van Overstraeten; additional reports from Leigh Thomas; Edited by Geert de Clercq, Peter Graff and David Gregorio