Lunchtime News Friday September 10th 2021

Lyon-Health authorities in Lyon say that they’re struggling with hospital admissions for Covid-19 and that the latest wave of patients needing treatment are younger and unvaccinated.

40 percent of ICU beds at the city’s Lyon Sud hospital are occupied by Covid-19 patients and numbers are growing.

Staff are reported to be exhausted and the hospital is having trouble recruiting new interns.

Generally in France , hospital occupancy for coronavirus cases is stable at around 10,500 with 2,224 patients in intensive care.

Around a fifth of the 58 million french people eligible to be vaccinated are not yet protected at all or have had just one shot.

 

Fast track citizenship- France has granted citizenship on 12,000 foreign workers who have been on the frontline during the pandemic.

In September, the Interior Ministry announced a programme to speed up demands for citizenship from foreign born health workers , security and maintenance employees and essential retail personnel.

The residency requirement was reduced from five years to two years and paperwork has been quickly processed.

In total 61,371 people were granted French nationality in 2020 , a fall of 20 percent on 2019.

 

Accident-Three people have been injured following an accident between a motor scooter and a pedestrian in Nice.

Reports say the accident happened at the junction of Boulevard Gambetta and the rue Trachel at around 9.15pm on Thursday.

The scooter with two people on it hit a pedestrian who is reported to have suffered serious injuries.

The two people on the scooter were also injured.

 

Burst pipe- A burst water main is causing serious traffic disruption in Vence .

Engineers are working to repair the damage on the ancienne route de Cagnes but it’s likely to take several days.

The road is closed until further notice with diversions in force via the route de Saint Paul and via Colonel Meyere and the chemin Sainte-Elizabeth.

 

Iron Man- Several roads in the Alpes Maritimes will be closed on Sunday while the Ironman France-Nice and the Ironman 70.3 are taking place.

The Route de Vence between Vence and Tourrettes sur Loup will be closed for the cycling stage as will be roads in Gourdon , Gréolières and Coursegoules.

The promenade des Anglais and the quai des Etats-Unis in Nice will also be closed for most of the day and access to Nice airport from the coast road will be restricted.

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