Mon 28 September 2020:
France reported record figures, daily cases soared past 16,000 for the first time on Thursday
France’s coronavirus infections passed 520,000 as one of the country’s top medical figures warned Sunday that the country will face a monthslong coronavirus epidemic that will overwhelm its health system if something does not change.
“The second wave is arriving faster than we thought,” Patrick Bouet, head of the National Council of the Order of Doctors, told the weekly Journal du Dimanche. Fresh restrictions to slow the spread of the disease in the country’s worst-hit areas, including the Mediterranean city of Marseille and the Paris region, have run into local resistance.
Bouet told the paper that warnings delivered this week by Health Minister Olivier Veran had not gone far enough. “He didn’t say that in three to four weeks, if nothing changes, France will face a widespread outbreak across its whole territory, for several long autumn and winter months,” Bouet said.
There would be no medical staff available to provide reinforcements, and France’s health system would be unable to meet all the demands placed on it, he warned. The health workers responsible for the spring “miracle” would not be able to plug those gaps, he added. “Many of them are exhausted, traumatized.”
France reported record figures, daily cases soared past 16,000 for the first time on Thursday. But moves by the authorities to contain the virus are not popular with many because of their painful economic toll. Marseille bar and restaurant owners gathered outside the city’s commercial courthouse to demonstrate against forced closures starting Sunday evening.
The number of people in the hospital with the infection also continued its steady ascent of the past month, rising by 97 to 6,128 – with the number of people in intensive care up by 50 to 1,098. Both hospital numbers are still well below their highs of more than 32,000 and 7,100 respectively, set during the peak of the crisis in April.
Second UK lockdown?
The UK Government is still keen to avoid a second UK lockdown, but the Prime Minister recognises that more restrictions may be necessary.
If these actions do not bring the R-rate below one, “we reserve the right to deploy greater fire power, with significantly greater restrictions,” the Prime Minister said.
Government sources had already warned Britain is in “the last chance saloon” to avoid tougher lockdown measures.
At a press conference on Sept 21, England’s Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance warned that there could be 50,000 coronavirus cases per day next month if the rate of the disease’s spread is not brought down.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has told the country that we have reached a “perilous turning point” in the fight against coronavirus as he set out a wave of national lockdown restrictions.
New, tighter, rules have been put in place around the wearing of face masks, pub opening hours and weddings, while people who are able, have been encouraged to work from home.
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