Paris wants extra coronavirus restrictions: French PM

French Prime Minister Jean Castex stated on Tuesday that point had come for extra coronavirus restrictions within the higher Paris area because the nation enters a 3rd wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
France is grappling with a gradual rise of latest instances, resulting in a heavy pressure on the hospital system, particularly within the capital the place infections have surged.
French well being authorities reported 29,975 new instances nationwide on Tuesday, a 4.5% weekly soar, the sharpest in a month and a half.

“It seems to me that the time has come to consider new measures in the greater Paris region,” Castex stated in an interview on BFM TV.
Castex stated weekend lockdowns similar to these already in place in two different areas have been amongst measures to be thought of for the higher Paris area at a gathering on Wednesday.
“There is no reason why we shouldn’t do in one region what we are doing in another,” he stated.

Like different EU nations, France has lagged far behind the United States or Britain in vaccinating its inhabitants.
President Emmanuel Macron nonetheless hopes a vaccination drive can stave off results of a brand new pandemic wave triggered by extra contagious variants, and forestall France from resorting to a 3rd nationwide lockdown.
But suspension of the usage of the AstraZeneca vaccine, introduced on Monday over security considerations, might jeopardise the technique.

Castex stated he was able to get the AstraZeneca vaccine if European well being authorities confirmed its security.
The well being ministry stated there have been 4,239 sufferers in intensive care models for COVID-19, up by 20 over 24 hours and setting an almost four-month excessive. The complete variety of individuals hospitalized for the illness was at 25,492, a excessive since Feb 24.
The quantity of people that have died went up by 408, at 91,170.