French President Emmanuel Macron today announced a new confinement nationwide in France, although less stringent than the tax in March, to try to stop the spread of the covid-19 pandemic.
According to Macron, who was speaking in a speech on television to the country, a “brutal stop in contagions” is needed to prevent the collapse of hospitals.
The new confinement will start on Friday, but schools will remain open for now.
“If nothing is done, there will be at least 400,000 additional deaths” within a few months in France, “said Macron.
Macron’s intervention came after the ministerial crisis office held two meetings and his prime minister, Jean Castex, met today with party forces represented in parliament, associations of mayors and social partners.
The head of the government considered it “indispensable” to adopt new measures, less than two weeks after introducing a curfew to two thirds of the population, who was unable to stop the spread of the contagions.
“We have to mobilize national representatives and the country as a whole,” wrote Castex on the social network Twitter, adding that on Thursday he will go to the two parliamentary chambers to defend the plan to stop the spread of the virus.
(in update)
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