By SudOuest.fr with AFP
The government wants to “give visibility” regarding the restrictions for the month of February… If the situation in critical care services continues to improve
A Health Defense Council meeting Thursday morning at the Elysée must “give visibility” as to the restrictions linked to the health crisis, even if the epidemiological situation must maintain the status quo for at least two weeks, we learned. from government sources.
The executive is faced with a paradoxical situation: if the number of positive cases continues to increase – and to break records at more than 300,000 daily contaminations on the average of the last seven days -, the pressure on the hospital and in particular the resuscitation services tends to stagnate.
Among the options of the council chaired by Emmanuel Macron, an intermediate solution is at this stage preferred. It consists of giving a timetable for lifting the restrictions, in particular with regard to gauges, the ban at least until January 24 on standing concerts and the closing of nightclubs. “We should ask the French for another two weeks of effort before lifting restrictions,” explained a source close to the executive.
We want to remind you that we are the country with the fewest restrictions in Europe, that we did well to set up the health pass in July and not to reconfine it a year ago.
“We want to give a little visibility, especially since people are fed up. We will say that if the conditions improve, in one or two weeks we will lift the restrictions, ”adds another source.
The test campaign in question
The Defense Council must also decide on a postponement in June of the baccalaureate specialty tests, a scenario that would hold the rope, according to several sources within the executive. The question of the massive testing campaign must also be addressed, as nearly 1.6 million PCR or antigenic nasopharyngeal samples were taken last week.
Its relevance is now called into question by some experts in view of the uncontrollable circulation of the virus, while the massive campaign should cost “a little more than one and a half billion euros in January”, said Monday the Minister Delegate for Public accounts, Olivier Dussopt.
“We want to remember that we are the country with the fewest restrictions in Europe, that we did well to set up the health pass in July and not to reconfine a year ago”, explained a source close to the executive.
Another source says that “the entry into application of the vaccination pass”, hoped for this weekend by the government, can become “a tool for managing the hospital decline, if, for example, the number of cases goes up in a region, we would activate it with a geographical approach”.