Speaking on the France 2 news channel, Valérie Pécresse urged the people of Ile-de-France (Paris and seven neighbouring departments) to work remotely even more to curb the Covid epidemic.
On the topic of a possible lockdown, Pécresse said the Ile-de-France region was "on borrowed time".
"That's because the English variant, now in the majority, is not only more contagious, it is also more deadly and our resuscitation capacities are overwhelmed," she said.
She said that the decision to go into lockdown was up to the government but "today, we can no longer exclude anything" and "in terms of responsibility, if the measures are justified, I will not oppose them", she added.
She "urged the people of Ile-de-France who can not go to work this week to work remotely", because "today this is not sufficiently in practice.In the fall, there were only 30% of people in the transport; today, there are 55%," she lamented.
🗣 "Je comprends la lassitude des Français, mais nous vivons une troisième vague qui va prendre des vies. Il faut prendre des mesures et accélérer la vaccination"@vpecresse, présidente de la région @iledefrance
— Caroline Roux (@Caroline_Roux) March 15, 2021
▶ #Les4V pic.twitter.com/TyCLBbqytX
"I understand that people are fed up," she told interviewer Caroline Roux, who posted an excerpt on social media. "But we are experiencing a third wave and lives will be lost. We must take precautions and speed up the vaccinations."
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Meanwhile, the member of European parliament from the Europe Ecology Greens party (EELV),Yannick Jadot, said on the French radio station RTL that "we are losing control of the situation, especially in Ile-de-France."
Questioned about the possibility of weekend confinement, he stated that "if we must get to that stage, then we must", even if "nobody wants to be confined".
Hospital situation not yet out of control
Bruno Riou, medical director of crisis at the Assistance publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, said the situation of the hospitals in the Ile-de-France region is "not yet out of control" but it will be.
Public health authorities said 1134 patients were in intensive care in the Ile-de-France region, accounting for more than a quarter of patients nationwide (4127 patients).
"I hear many say that a week without containment is a week won, I do not have the same analysis, for me it is a week lost, "said Professor Riou on France Inter radio.
He also said that the transfers of patients to other regions, which began this weekend from Paris would not solve the problem of crowded intensive care units.
He said the current strategy had only allowed "to contain in part the exponential progression" of the virus and that it was necessary "to review the strategy. In recent weeks, we haven't succeeded in reversing the curve of contamination and admissions to intensive care."
Schools closure last resort: Castex
French Prime Minister Jean Castex said "every day that passes is a day gained to avoid a lockdown, but if it is necessary, as we have done elsewhere, as we have done before, we will proceed."
Speaking on the video games platform Twitch, Castex said the possibility was not excluded. "But we must use all the weapons at our disposal to avoid a lockdown given the consequences it has for the population," he said, adding, the closure of schools is the last resort.
