Lunchtime News Monday 5th April 2021

News

Third wave - The third wave of the Covid-19 epidemic in France is intensifying with the pressure in hospitals increasing further on Sunday April 4th, with 5,341 patients in intensive care, according to daily figures from Public Health France. The day before, 5,273 patients were in intensive car and last Sunday, this figure stood at 4,872. The number of deaths linked to Covid-19 to date stands at 96,678 in France since the start of the epidemic.

Vaccination - Meanwhile France will this week, start to manufacture vaccines against Covid. According to French President Emmanuel Macron, the move is “to give independence in vaccine supplies” with several subcontracting factories in France producing the vaccine with the goal of achieving 250 million doses by the end of the year.  

While waiting for the French production, it is with doses produced elsewhere in Europe that the vaccination campaign is continuing and accelerating in France. More than 12 million doses, of the four vaccines already authorized, are expected this month in France.

The campaign will also gain momentum with the liberal nurses, who, since last week, can prescribe and inject doses in at home. Dentists and veterinarians can also now be mobilized if necessary and the army also announced its participation in the campaign. From Wednesday, seven military hospitals in  the Paris region are mobilized to carry out 50,000 vaccinations per week.

Incidence rate - Meanwhile according to figures published by CovidTracker at the weekend the incidence rate in the Alpes Maritimes has dropped in recent days. As of Saturday April 3, it was 465 (number of cases over 7 days per 100,000 inhabitants).

In the region, the Alpes-Maritimes is no longer the department with the worst incidence rate it’s indeed the Boûches-du-Rhône which continues to increase considerably with, on Saturday, a rate of 547, meanwhile the Vaucluse recorded a rate of 480, the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence 464, and the Hautes-Alpes, 458.

In the Var, the incidence rate continues to increase slightly and was at 464 on Saturday compared to 460 on March 29th. The average incidence in France is 405.

Monaco – In Monaco 3 new cases of Covid were identified on Sunday bringing the total number of residents affected to 2,329. Twenty-eight people are currently in hospital and 71 people are being followed by the Home Monitoring Centre.

School holidays moved a week earlier - Meanwhile the Monaco government has announced that the school holiday’s in the Principality will start a week earlier on April 9th and not on April 22nd. The return to school is set for Monday April 26th.

Curfew in Monaco - The curfew in the Principality which was due to end on Friday 2nd April has been extended until April 18th and by one hour from 8pm to 6am instead of 7pm.

The government announced that while the health situation and the measures in place have seen a “slow down in the circulation of the virus” the need to respect barrier gestures and to be careful during private gatherings is still of great importance. The government announces that more than 30% of the population is now vaccinated in Monaco. The vaccination campaign is currently for people over 55 who have expressed a wish to be vaccinated before being extended to other groups.

Solidarity lease to be introduced in Paris - As of tomorrow, Tuesday 6th April, the City of Paris will offer its first-time home buyers, the possibility to purchase a home at 5,000 euros per m², or half the price of the market, thanks to the solidarity lease (BRS). Several other cities such as Lille, Rennes and Lyon have already adopted this device which is inspired by a model from the United States where it emerged in the 1980s. From Tuesday and for the month of April, a first batch of 23 housing units, will be open for applications to help low income families onto the property ladder.

And Finally

A global study has found that the UK ranks number four in not getting caught when having an affair, with just one in five in the UK having been rumbled.

Only the Portuguese, Spanish and Irish are better at having an affair without being found out. And of the 18 countries surveyed, the French are by far the most likely to be found out.

The study of 3,000 found that six per cent see their lover every day. And more than half of those questioned in the study claimed their affair partner gave them “emotional support”.

 

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