News
Health minister in favour of reopening to be carried out “region by region”- France’s Minister of Health, Oivier Véran, has said he is in favour of the end of lockdown being carried out “region by region” in France. Veran adds that “the health situation in each department must be closely looked at in the approach to lifting current restrictions in place nationally”.
Data from Public Health France indicated just over 29,000 new cases on Sunday, nearly 36,000 on Saturday and 36,500 on Friday. Monday's numbers (almost 6,700) are low, due to the closure of testing labs on Sunday. On Monday figures show 31,214 patients are currently hospitalized with Covid, including almost 6,000 in intensive care.
Quarantine - The quarantine for travellers from Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and also Guyana will come into effect "Saturday morning". French government spokesman Gabriel Attal announced that travellers who do not respect the 10-day isolation on their arrival in France will be liable to a fine of 1,500 euros.
Johnson & Johnson vaccine - The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is to give its opinion this afternoon on the "safety" of the Janssen vaccine, from the Johnson & Johnson laboratory, after the appearance of serious cases of blood clots in several people recently vaccinated.
Wastewater – Meanwhile the latest wastewater analysis results from the Nice Côte d´Azur metropolitan area show still a high level of the presence of the virus in the sewers but also a slight decline compared to previous samples taken.
In other news
Speeding - A motorist has been stopped by police in the Var driving at 226km an hour on the A8 motorway. The 21 year old was intercepted by officers at the Puget-Ville paytoll. He was driving a Peugeot 208 GTi which has a top speed of 230 km an hour. The individual was found to be under the influence of drugs, his vehicle was seized and he has been summoned to appear before the criminal court in Draguignan.
Delays due to accident on A8 motorway - An accident on the A8 motorway has caused long delays for motorist during this morning’s rush hour. The incident occurred near the Nice-Ouest exit and traffic was down to one lane while emergency services intervened.
And Finally
The existence of life on another planet could be proved as early as 2026 thanks to a new telescope that could detect signatures made by living creatures. Research by Ohio State University shows that the NASA James Webb space telescope could detect a signature of life on other planets in as little as 60 hours.
Graduate student Caprice Phillips said the results of her study show that we may 'realistically find signs of life on another planet in the next 5 to 10 years.'
A 20-year-old motorcyclist has died in a crash in the hills above Grasse this morning.
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