Lunchtime News Friday 18th September 2020

Local

“Loudspeakers in Nice are annoying the population” - The president of the “Citizens” association David Nakache, has criticized loudspeakers in Nice broadcasting anti-Covid-19 prevention messages saying “they are annoying the population”.

Installed all over Nice during lockdown the loudspeakers broadcast every half an hour messages telling people that “wearing a mask is compulsory” and reminding people of the need to respect barrier gestures.

Schools in Marseille closed due to lack of staff - 17 schools in Marseille out of city’s 470 have had to close due to lack of personnel available to disinfect premises.

Faced with the current health crisis the closures have affected both nursery and primary schools.

The new deputy mayor of Marseille in charge of education and school canteens has pointed out that the newly elected council has inherited structural problems, and that the health crisis is not helping matters adding that the town’s priority is not to endanger staff or pupils.

French government announces strategy on Covid-19 – France’s Minister of Health Olivier Veran, has given an update on the government’s coronavirus strategy and has specifically addressed the circulation of the virus in the Alpes Maritimes region.

Speaking on Thursday evening Veran said that the government has asked the prefect of the department, to propose by Saturday "measures that must be taken to limit the spread of the virus". He said that the limit of available hospital beds is near being reached in the Alpes Maritimes.

He added that the incidence rate is particularly high suggesting that in Marseille it may be necessary to take even stronger measures than at present if intensive care admissions increase and the health situation doesn't improve.

The minister confirmed that an acceleration of the virus had been observed over the past few weeks. He said the number of new infections per 100,000 people stood at 83 on Wednesday compared to 10 at the end of July and 40 at the end of August.

However, he added that on average one sick person infects two other people every 15 days at the moment, which points to a slower circulation of the virus than earlier in the pandemic.

Covid-19 figures - As far as figures for Covid-19 are concerned Public Health France announced on Thursday that France has recorded 10,593 new cases of Covid-19 in 24 hours, a new record since the launch of large-scale tests in the country, and 50 new deaths.

Monaco Covid-19 – Meanwhile in Monaco five new cases of Covid-19 have been reported bringing the total number of residents affected by the coronavirus to 186. Five people are currently in hospital in the Principality, two of which are residents and 31 people are being cared for by the Home Monitoring Centre.

Professor Didier Raoult on Coivd-19 - Professor Didier Raoult head of the University Hospital of Marseille has said that taking into account the current state of the health crisis he “does not see the Covid-19 scenario experienced in February and March recurring”.

Speaking to French media about the epidemic and its impact on society Raoult said that “fear is the major danger in our society” before adding that ‘there is something very special about this virus, it causes an extremely violent immune reaction which is the greatest danger in the second and third stage of the virus."

Study - A recent study has suggested that more than half of patients who get coronavirus suffer persistent fatigue, regardless of the seriousness of their infection.

Researchers found that even 10 weeks after recovering from Covid-19, people reported ongoing tiredness and exhaustion.

The study, from Trinity College, Dublin, is being presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases' Conference on Coronavirus Disease.

It found that 10 weeks after clinical recovery from Covid-19, 52 per cent of the 128 people in the study reported ongoing fatigue.

The group were typically aged 50 and 54 per cent were female.