While France must lift the last restrictions which weigh on the daily life of its fellow citizens on Monday March 14, the number of contaminations is on the rise again. A situation which prompted the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, to alert to the resurgence of Covid-19, Friday March 11: “We are currently seeing a rebound, in France, in the countries around us. – to say that the Covid is no longer falling, it is even increasing.
However, wearing a mask will no longer be compulsory from Monday. Decisions that contrast with the rigidity of Beijing’s approach. Faced with a few thousand cases, the Chinese power has reconfigured several large cities such as Changchun or Shenzhen.
- China takes drastic measures
Faced with a peak in contamination across the country, China is taking drastic measures. In Shanghai, this Sunday, March 13, the living quarters were cordoned off one by one. China’s most populous metropolis finds its schools, businesses, restaurants and shopping malls closed. No one can enter the city without a negative test within 48 hours. In the south of the country, Shenzhen and its 17 million inhabitants have been placed in confinement after the discovery of 66 new cases. Changchun, Yanji, Jilin… A growing number of metropolises are now under restriction.
The communist power led by Xi Jinping has recorded its highest contamination rate for two years. From the onset of this health crisis, the Chinese regime had opted for a policy of massive screening and the triggering of local confinements as soon as the slightest epidemic outbreak appeared. A “zero covid” strategy which also comes up against a form of weariness of the population and which has not managed to completely stem the circulation of the virus on its territory.
- France lifts restrictions, the epidemic starts to rise again
Scheduled for several weeks, the lifting of the wearing of masks in companies and the end of the vaccination pass must come into force on Monday. A decision which can be questioned in view of the figures of the pandemic. After several weeks of decline, the number of contaminations has been increasing for several days. With 72,443 new cases recorded on Saturday March 12, the average contamination over seven days stands at more than 63,000, against 52,000 last Saturday. However, intensive care and critical care admissions continue to decline. A fact that should motivate the government to maintain the removal of health constraints.
Faced with this worrying situation, the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran said he was “vigilant”. He also claims to have a watchful eye on the epidemic rebound in Martinique, caused by the carnival festivities. “The scientific council, which I have requested, tells us that it is above all the BA.2 sub-variant which is at the origin of this rebound” he continued, specifying that it “is more transmissible than the original Omicron, but it doesn’t seem more dangerous”. It will therefore be possible to migrate from the coffee machine to his office, without a mask, from Monday.
- More than 140,000 dead in France
The bar of 140,000 deaths linked to Covid-19 in France has been crossed, according to the organization Santé publique France. Two years after the start of the epidemic, the country has been experiencing a rebound in contamination for a week which could worsen the toll of the health crisis.
- A fourth dose for the over 80s
Prime Minister Jean Castex announced in an interview on Saturday at the Parisian the opening of a fourth dose to over 80s. If “the improvement in the hospital and our high vaccination coverage lead us to maintain the lifting of measures”, he believes that we must “accompany the most vulnerable people”. This injection will therefore be reserved for people over 80 who have received their booster dose for more than three months. This measure aims to fight against the gradual lifting of immunity.