Skip to main content

France’s Covid-19 restrictions continue beyond 15 December 2020

 

French Prime Minister, Mr Jean Castex, announced yesterday, 10 December 2020, that the government will delay lifting some Covid-19 lockdown restrictions next week until the number of cases reaches its target of 5,000 per day.

 

It was expected that lockdown restrictions would lift on 15 December 2020, enabling museums and cinemas to open, but this is now delayed.

 

The government will lift a restriction on people's movement from 15 December, but replace it with an 8:00pm curfew, including on New Year's Eve. Jean Castex said that museums, art galleries, theatres, and cinemas will remain closed for an extra three weeks to 5 January 2021 as the number of new Covid-19 infections begins to slowly rise again. Bars and restaurants are expected to re-open from mid-January 2021.

 

Castex said families would be allowed to travel to celebrate Christmas together on 25 December. An exception to the nighttime curfew of 8:00pm will be made for Christmas Eve.

 

The Prime Minister said that the number of Covid-19 infections has stopped decreasing. The situation has "considerably improved" since the country entered a second lockdown on 30 October, and the number of new infections has fallen from nearly 50,000 a day in late October to around 10,000 a day.However,the decline "has slowed over the past several days," Castex said. "We're on a sort of plateau ... We cannot let our guard down. We have not exited the second wave."

 

Health Minister, Olivier Véran, said that France would fall far short of its target of a maximum 5,000 new cases per day by Tuesday 15 December, when the lockdown was scheduled to end. On Thursday 10 December, France recorded nearly 14,000 infections over the previous 24 hours, compared with 12,000 a week earlier, he said.

 

"We have still not exited the second wave," Olivier Véran said, adding that there could be no large gatherings on New Year's Eve in order to prevent a rebound and a possible third lockdown in 2021.

 

The total death toll in France since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020 is over 55,000.

 

French citizens were not happy with the government’s decision to postpone the re-opening of cultural venues until January 2021. "We are tired of not being given more consideration. Once more, culture is being left on the side of the road," said Philippe Lellouche, a French actor and director. Culture Minister, Roselyne Bachelot, did not even attend the news conference announcing the new delays.













 

MARTINA NICOLLS

Website

Martinasblogs

Publications

Facebook

Paris Website

Animal Website

SUBSCRIBE TO MARTINA NICOLLS FOR NEWS AND UPDATES 

 

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author  of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce  (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2016 update on Rike Park, Tbilisi: from construction to busy park

From a flat patch of uninteresting dirt, Rike Park in Tbilisi, Georgia, has transformed in four years (from 2014-2016) into a busy park full of trees, flower beds, sculptures, fountains, and events. Rike (Rikhe) Park is on the left bank of the Mt’k’vari River (the Kura River) near the Old City of Tbilisi. The Peace Bridge links the right bank to Rike Park. Rike Park is below the hillside Presidential Palace and, via cable car, it is the starting point for the ride to Sololaki Ridge (with the Narikala Fortress and the Mother of Georgia statue). The glass box-shaped cable car terminus was opened on 23 June 2012, and since then the park has continually developed into a ‘people’s park’ where people can walk around, eat at the nearby restaurants, sit next to the statue of American president Ronald Reagan, climb the steps to Avlabari district, and access the sights of Meidan Square, the Peace Bridge, the Metekhi Church, the Old City, the waterfall, the sulphur baths, and t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...
1 comment
Read more

Hop on hop off bus tourism comes to Tbilisi, Georgia

City Sightseeing buses have arrived in Tbilisi. The iconic red double-decker buses, a feature of many cities around the world since the company was established in Seville, Spain in 1999, is now in six continents and almost 100 cities. The company established its Tbilisi business in November 2013, with its operations commencing in February 2014. The 90-minute tour stops at 11 major locations in Tbilisi (with 2 to 5 minute waiting times at each location): the Old City (where it commences), Freedom Square, Rose Revolution Square, Marjanishvili Square, the Dry Bridge, Konka, Avlabari, Metekhi, Akhundov Museum, the Sulfur Baths, and European Square. Passengers can hop off at any stop and see the sights, hopping back onto the next bus at any time. Alternatively, passengers can remain on the bus for the whole tour and take photographs when the bus stops at each location. There are one day (24-hour) passes (for 35 lari – about $20) and 48-hour passes for 55 lari, with family d...
2 comments
Read more