Lunchtime News Friday July 30th 2021

UK Travel- British government Ministers have been heavily criticised for keeping France on the Amber+ travel list meaning that people who enter the country from France still have to quarantine.

Restrictions on passengers from all other EU countries have now been lifted but the British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has defended the move to keep France at Amber+ after saying that it was “not the distance that matters ,but rather the ease of travel between different component parts of any individual country”.

Mr Raab did concede that the decision was partly due to the prevalence of the Beta variant on the French island of Reunion.

Beta infections in mainland France only account for 2.8 percent of all cases and the decision has been met with derision from some opposition politicians in the UK as well as in France where the European Affairs Minster Clement Beaune described it as “excessive”.

A review of the situation is due next week.

 

Var manhunt-Police are searching for a man who barricaded himself inside his home in Cogolin after shooting a neighbour in the leg on Thursday.

A siege developed outside the suspect’s home on the rue Carnot but police decided to enter the building despite several appeals for him to come out.

When they entered ,they found that the building was empty and that the man had somehow escaped despite a large police presence outside.

A search is now underway.

The person who was shot was only lightly injured.

 

ICUs-More than 1,000 people are now receiving intensive care treatment for coronavirus at hospitals around the country as the 4th wave of the pandemic continues to gather momentum.

Public Health France says that 1,015 people are now being treated in intensive care ,up from 992 on Wednesday and from 868 a week ago.

A total of 7,236 people are currently receiving hospital treatment for the virus and there were 29 deaths on Thursday.

51.6 percent of the population have received a double vaccination against the virus while 61.8 percent have had one shot.

 

Fire-Firefighters in the Alpes Maritimes have acted quickly to put out a blaze in forest land on the route de Saint Vallier near Speracedes.

50 firefighters aided by water bombing helicopters battled to control the flames which destroyed around 5,000 square meters of forest land.

The fire is now reported to be under control but some personnel remain in the area to monitor the situation.

The entire region is on high alert for forest fire with motorists, walkers  and in particular smokers urged to take extreme care.

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