Lunchtime News Friday 24th April 2020

Coronavirus figures for the PACA region - The number of hospitalizations in the Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur region has fallen slightly with 1,799 patients of Covid-19 hospitalized, that’s 12 less in 24 hours.

In intensive care 310 patients were admitted on Thursday 23rd April, compared to 326 the day before.

245 new cases of Covid-19 were detected in 24 hours, on Thursday 23 April, bringing the total to 13,774 cases of coronavirus since February 28th in the PACA region and 564 deaths.

Hotel and catering industry meet with French President - Professionals in the hotel and catering industry have met with Emmanuel Macron this morning, in the hope of obtaining massive support from the public authorities to avoid a complete collapse of the industry.

Bars and restaurants are not supposed to reopen May 11th which has been announced that the official date of deconfinement. Professionals in the industry are calling for a rapid resumption of their activity - without which some establishments risk closing their doors permanently. So far this morning nothing has yet been reported concerning the outcome of the meeting which started at 9.30am.

EMA warns of serious side effects of treatment - The European Medicines Agency the EMA has warned of serious side effects related to the use of the antimalarial chloroquine treatment, promoted in particular by President Donald Trump and Professor Didier Raoult in Marseille, as remedies for the coronavirus.

The EMA, based in Amsterdam said, that the beneficial effects of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine have "not yet been proven,"

According to its data, the clinical studies of these treatments is "still very limited and inconclusive and the beneficial effects of these drugs on Covid-19 have not been confirmed".

In France, Didier Raoult, owner of a world-renowned medical research and treatment center in Marseille, promotes the treatment for Covid-19. But his studies, showing according to him the effectiveness of this treatment, are very criticized within the medical profession.

In the United States, the results published on Tuesday of the largest study to date, funded by the United States government, have shown no benefit of hydroxychloroquine against Covid-19 compared to standard treatment. On the contrary, it revealed an excess mortality related to the use of the treatment.

Sanofi - The French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi has seen an increase in sales for the first quarter of 2020 partially due to drug sales during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Consumer drugs sales increased 4.2 percent, to 1.3 million euros, which the company attributes to the coronavirus epidemic. In Europe, sales of pain and cough remedies went up 6.1 percent, particularly sales of Doliprane (paracetamol) in France.

Sanofi is involved in several collaborations to develop a Covid-19 vaccine, including a collaboration with British drugs company GSK.