France had planned to lift travel and movement restrictions and reopen cinemas, theatres and museums on 15 December in the second of a three-part easing of lockdown if it met certain conditions were met.
But with health officials warning the country was far off from a target of 5,000 new infections per day, President Emmanuel Macron was to meet with the senior ministers and officials comprising a special health defence council to discuss whether to change those plans.
The meeting would consider “the extent to which this health situation obliges us to reconsider certain things we had planned” for 15 December, government spokesperson Gabriel Attal told CNews television.
“If we must modify this second phase” of lifting lockdown measures, “then of course we will do it,” Attal said, explaining restrictions on movement and gatherings could be maintained if it helps to prevent a third wave.
France far from infection target
Macron said in late November that France would reopen shops immediately, lift confinement and open some cultural sites on 15 December and open restaurants and gyms on 20 January if the country attained targets concerning new infections and acute cases.
But health officials warned this week it would be difficult to reach a target of 5,000 new cases per day.
There were about 55,000 new cases per day at the peak of the second wave in early November, around 17,000 when Macron spoke on 24 November and 10,000 a week after that, but the average has stopped falling since then.
The other target of having fewer than 3,000 Covid patients in intensive care may be reached, with the number of patients currently hovering near that target, although a steady rate of admissions are currently being recorded.
Aurore Bergé, MP and spokesperson of Macron’s Republic on the Move party, told BFM television she was “committed to reopening cultural sites, but I am above all committed to the lives of the French people and to the fact that we cannot take risks as the health crises worsens”.
(with newswires)
