Lunchtime News Tuesday 16th March 2021

News 

President of the PACA says possible lockdown for the whole region? - The president of the Provence Alpes Cote D’Azur region, Renaud Muselier, has announced this morning on France Bleu Azur that the weekend lockdown could be extended by the government. Muselier has said that the government could soon extend the measures to the whole region with, in his opinion the entire PACA region soon being in lockdown at “weekends and maybe even during the week”.

Renaud Muselier went on to denounce the difference in treatment between the Alpes-Maritimes and the Paris region saying that "there is an injustice”.

Mayor of Nice reacts to suspension of vaccine and lockdown in Nice - Meanwhile speaking to CNews this morning the mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi, has reacted to the suspension of the Astrazenaca vaccine announced on Monday by French President Emmanuel Macron. Estrosi said that the move was “a European strategy and a principle of precaution." Before adding that, the move will “no doubt leave a lack of confidence in the vaccine for the French” but that for the time being Nice had no cases of people unsubscribing to the vaccine.  The mayor of Nice also reaffirmed his wish to authorise "quickly" the Russian vaccine Sputnik V in France saying that he has " the capacity to bring tens of thousands of doses to Nice," adding that 48 countries in the world are using it and it's going pretty well," he concluded that "The Haute Autorité de Santé needs to act fast”.

While the city of Nice has experienced three weekends of lockdown, the decision for the next Saturday and Sunday is still pending. Estrosi said that the first two weekends were effective, but the third was less so”. A decision should be taken by Thursday on the follow-up to be given to these restrictive measures in the Alpes-Maritimes.

Closure of winter sports resorts on March 21st – Considered to bethe end of a season which never existed” authorities have announced the closure of winter sport resorts in the region on March 21st. The announcement was made in a press release on Monday 15th March. However Olivier Borot director of services in Valberg in response to the announcement has said that “Valberg will remain open” adding that the station “will remain open as long as weather allows and that the closure of ski lifts is not planned”.

Free breakfasts in French schools - The French government wants to reintroduce free breakfasts in schools. The government announced its intention on Monday 15th March. The initiative was launched two years ago, but was interrupted due to the health crisis.  In 2019-2020, some 153,000 students benefited from the move. The government wants to increase those schools which are eligible to free breakfasts with a possible increase in the current budget of 12 million euros a year to 46 million euros, depending on demand.

Extras wanted - Extras are wanted for the filming of the third season of "Missions" which is soon to be filmed between Cannes and Nice.  The science fiction series has been broadcast on OCS since June 2017. Filming is scheduled between March 30th and April 9th in Nice, Cannes and also La Colle sur Loup and Valbonne. To apply, several specialized sites are available such as castprod.com

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