PARIS (Reuters) – France must do everything possible to prevent a new coronavirus blockade as pressure on hospitals grows, Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Sunday, when the country reported more than 26,000 new cases.
So far, the French government has resisted pressure from some health experts to impose a new third blockade in the face of rising cases.
Instead, it has imposed a nationwide curfew at 6 p.m., and weekend closures in two regions struggling to contain outbreaks, while large malls have been forced to close.
“We have to use all available weapons to avoid a blockade. I never hid it, we vaccinated, we protected, we tested,” Castex said in an interview on the Twitch website.
The Ministry of Health on Sunday reported 26,343 new cases of COVID-19, down from 29,759 the day before, while the number of people who died due to the virus increased by 140 to a total of 90,429.
Meanwhile, the number of people in intensive care units increased from 57 to 4,127, while emergency resuscitation units operated at about 82% of capacity, the highest since late November, when France was in its second closing.
“The situation is not improving, there are an increasing number of infections and hospitals are heavily loaded with many patients, whose average age is declining and they do not always have comorbidities,” Castex said.
The government plans to move about 100 patients this week by plane or special trains from the greater Paris region to other cities to help ease the pressure on the capital’s hospitals.
Labor Minister Elizabeth Borne said on Sunday she had tested positive for COVID-19 and would continue to work, the last senior French official to catch the virus.
Meanwhile, France’s vaccination program has been gaining momentum with the first 67,134 shots on Sunday, for a total of 5,128,872, or 7.7% of the population, according to the health ministry. Some 2,239,389 have received the two injections as of Sunday.
Report by Leigh Thomas and Jean-Stephane Brosse; Edited by Edmund Blair and Jane Merriman