If it’s not yet officially a pandemic, it’s starting to look a lot like that. With the developments of the Covid-19 epidemic, which reveal active transmission chains in South Korea, Iran and now in Italy, no country can be believed to be safe from the SARS-CoV- virus. 2.
The French Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, thus evoked, Sunday, February 23 at the start of the evening, new measures showing that faced with “A very evolving situation”, France was preparing for an epidemic and was more mobilized than ever.
“Up to now, we have had thirty-eight health establishments to accommodate possible patients, mainly CHUs. I decided, in agreement with the Prime Minister, that 70 establishments with a SAMU headquarters will be activated tomorrow [lundi] to increase our response capacity if necessary “, declared the minister, during a press briefing after a meeting around Edouard Philippe in Matignon intended to take stock of the Covid-19.
Around the head of government, were present Olivier Véran, the Minister of the Armies Florence Parly, the Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner, the Secretary of State to the Prime Minister and government spokesperson Sibeth Ndiaye and the Secretary of State in charge of transport Jean-Baptiste Djebbari.
Act “fast” and “strong”
The Minister of Health has expressed his wish to increase the capacity for diagnostic tests “To reach a capacity of several thousand analyzes per day and throughout the territory, compared to 400 today” and personal protective equipment, in particular by commanding ” in quantity “ protective masks.
“We act quickly, we act hard to face the epidemic threat (…) and we take all the measures that are necessary to ensure the safety of the French “, said Olivier Véran. He said he had met with his Italian and German counterparts. “We have agreed on an upcoming meeting with several EU health ministers, probably next week, to discuss together how to deal with the risk of epidemics”, said the Minister.
Asked in the 8 pm newspaper of France 2 about the developments of the epidemic in Italy, Olivier Véran underlined that a border closure with this neighboring country “Would not make sense”. For the Minister, “It would not make sense because a virus does not stop at borders”, before adding a nuance to the situation: “There is, strictly speaking, no epidemic in Italy”, since the authorities have on the contrary taken measures, in particular of containment, “To avoid an epidemic”.
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