The Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, encouraged the French to respect the confinement to live a "Christmas as less restrictive as possible" although this holiday will not be "normal" this year.
A re-containment was introduced by the French government from this Friday, October 30, 2020 and should continue at least until December 1. However, the executive would consider suing him on a period of 8 to 12 weeks (i.e. until the end of January) if the decline in the spread of Covid-19 is not significant enough by the beginning of December. One thing is certain, if it is possible to celebrate Christmas, "it won't be a normal party" this year according to Olivier Véran. During an interview with Sunday newspaper on November 1, the Minister of Health declared that the government was seeking to "create the conditions to experience a Christmas that is as less restrictive as possible ", but that"it’s hard to imagine big parties" for the New Years Eve of December 31st. The festivities will probably have to be celebrated in small committee to welcome the new year. "Our goal is for the epidemic pressure to drop so that we can do errands on time, prepare with joy, so that the conditions are created allowing families to reunite", he continued.
Olivier Véran thus encouraged the French to respect the terms of confinement. Thanks to that, "the number of contaminations could drop in the coming days, leading, in two weeks, to a drop in new serious cases", he explained."The more we respect it (the confinement), the less it will take;", he then assured.
The Minister of Health clarified that "in two or three days, the first elements to assess the impact of the curfew measures"which had been established in mid-October in several departments.
Vittoria Colizza, specialist in infectious disease modeling, recently revealed at Figaro than "the number of new contaminations should go down less quickly" after the peak of this second wave since this new confinement is less strict than the first. "It is unrealistic to think that a four-week lockdown will allow us to spend Christmas like nothing has happened.", she admitted, stressing that it would be necessary opt for a "careful deconfinement ".