Gatherings of more than 1,000 people are now banned, white plan in health establishments, facilitation of telemedicine… the government announced new measures on Sunday March 8 to try to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
- The coronavirus has infected 1,126 people in France and caused the death of 19 patients
- The government has banned gatherings of more than 1,000 people and launched a plan to mobilize hospitals
- Teleconsultations are facilitated and no longer require a prior physical consultation
Faced with the coronavirus epidemic which “is progressing in certain territories in which the viral activity is very dynamic”France is preparing for the transition to stage 3 of the state of alert, “inexorable”, according to President Emmanuel Macron. If we are not there yet, the government announced new restrictive measures on Sunday March 8, in the hope of stemming the spread of Covid19, which, according to the latest official figures, has so far contaminated 1,126 people. Among them, 19 died.. Point.
1/ Gatherings of more than 1,000 people are now prohibited
Gatherings of more than 5,000 people were already prohibited throughout the territory, now the restriction drops to 1,000. However, exceptions are provided for “events considered useful to the life of the nation” such as contests, use of public transport and demonstrations. If the latter remain authorized, these measures will “have an undeniable impact on the exercise of fundamental democratic rights”,criticize the unions (CGT, FO, FSU and Solidaires) and youth organizations (FIDEL, MNL, UNL and UNEF), hostile to pension reform, in a press release. Indeed, according to them,notshadow of people will avoid participating in the coming weeks in any public initiative”.
Regarding sporting events, the Champions League match between Paris-Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday 11 will be played behind closed doors. This one “can become the doctrine of the government” to allow “sports continuity”, said the Minister of Sports, Roxana Maracineanu. Likewise, the Minister of Sports has recommended that Ligue 1 matches take place behind closed doors until April 15. In the same logic, a form of behind closed doors has also been decided on for the Paris-Nice cycling race, without an audience in the stage start and finish areas. “Public access restrictions will be organized on the start and finish sites of the stages by setting up a protective airlock 100 meters from the podium for the starts and 300 meters for the finishes”, said Amaury Sport Organization. This Monday, Roxana Maracineanu however announced that the last day of the Six Nations Tournament would be postponed to October. At the cultural level, the Philharmonie de Paris has indicated that it is canceling all its concerts from this Monday evening.
2/ Measures for the proper holding of municipal elections
The municipal elections being part of these “useful moments in the life of the nation”, they will not be postponed and will take place on Sunday March 15 and 22. From “barrier measures”, such as not shaking hands, not kissing each other, using single-use tissues or even sneezing into your elbow, will be reminded by small posters in the polling stations. In addition, queues will be managed for “limit situations of prolonged promiscuity”, announced Prime Minister Edouard Philippe in a letter unveiled by The world.
“Other questions, relating to the contact surfaces constituted by the ballot papers, the pens used for signature, the regular cleaning, if necessary, of the voting machines, and the cleaning of the polling stations, may be subject of additional recommendations”, he details. Furthermore, “special attention will be paid to proxies” people unable to movein particular for reasons related to the health situation”, such as the elderly living in accommodation establishments for dependent elderly people (Ehpad) or the sick. In addition, in Mulhouse, a major focus of the virus, surgical gloves and hydroalcoholic gel will be made available to voters.
3/ More than 300,000 students forced to stay at home
From this Monday, March 9, schools will be closed in the most active centers of the coronavirus. In Haut-Rhin and Oise, departments particularly affected, all schools and nurseries are now closed for at least two weeks. Thus, 165,000 students from Oise and 127,000 from Haut-Rhin will have to take their courses remotely. In Corsica, the prefecture of Corse-du-Sud announced the closure for two weeks of all schools in Ajaccio, today considered a source of contamination (23 cases out of 28 identified in Corsica). About 10,000 students should be affected by this measure.
4/ Facilitation of tele-consultations and white plan
To avoid saturation of the hospital system, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran announced the removal of the ceiling on the number of overtime hours for hospital staff and a relaxation of the conditions for exercising telemedicine. “I have decided to lift the obligation to pass [en amont]by his attending physician (…) before carrying out a remote consultation”he explained.
As part of the fight against Covid-19, health establishments must also prepare to deploy the white plan, which allows them to mobilize internally all the resources at their disposal, human and material. For nursing homes, a blue plan is planned to increase staff and prevent the isolation of residents.
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