Lunchtime News Tuesday 27th October 2020

News

Mayor of Roya calls for the army to return - The mayor of Roya has called for the army to return in order to assist in the recovery operations following Storm Alex which hit the Alpes Maritimes at the beginning of October.

Faced with the ongoing reestablishment of the area the mayor insists that “land and air resources are urgently needed for as long as communities remain landlocked”. Adding that while the town is accessible by road this is not the case for neighbours located higher up in the Roya valley, where only a few trains arrive each day”.

Last weekend, three weeks after the storm, the body of a seventh victim was discovered and identified: a 77-year-old man, living in Saint-Martin-Vésubie. Eleven people remain missing with the cost of rebuilding the areas destroyed likely to reach 1.5 billion euros.

Patients transferred to other parts of France to be treated for Covid-19 – The scenes of patients with Covid-19 being transferred to other parts of France in order to be cared for when the pandemic hit France back in March have returned, as the second wave spreads across the country.

Entire trains and medical planes have been chartered with several operations already being carried out in Hauts-de-France. On Monday, eight patients with Covid-19 were transferred to New Aquitaine from Saint-Etienne and Lyon.

According to local media between four and six patients hospitalized in the PACA region are to be treated today in Brest, a region not too badly affected by the number of cases.

According to the mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, these transfers would not concern hospitals in the Alpes-Maritimes but those in Bouches-du-Rhône and Alpes-de-Haute-Provence.

The mayor of Nice announces new restrictive measures if the number of Covid-19 cases continues to rise – Meanwhile during a video press conference held on Monday the mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi, has announced plans to introduce weekend lockdowns and the closure of nonessential shops from next week should the number of Covid-19 cases continue to rise in the Alpes Maritimes.

The new restrictive measures would be accompanied by the reopening of hotels for Covid-19 cases to self-isolate, similar to the system set up in March and April, and the relaunching of a poster campaign to call for solidarity within the community in the fight against the coronavirus.

Regional tourism announces more than 2.5 billion euros in losses - The Côte d´Azur Regional Tourism Committee (CRT) has announced that following figures released local tourism will suffer more than 2.5 billion euros of losses over the whole year due to the health crisis, including 600 million euros in July and August.

Covid-19 - Following the announcement that French President Emmanuel Macron is to hold two council meetings today and tomorrow France is heading towards tougher measures to fight the Covid-19 epidemic.

The government is expected to announce either tighter curfews or local lockdowns. In areas badly affected the curfews could be moved forward to 7pm or earlier and complete lockdowns at weekends.

Speaking on France Inter this morning, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin warned about the content of the next government measures to fight against the second wave of the coronavirus epidemic, which will be announced in the coming days saying that "We can expect some tough decisions,"

Meanwhile Professor Pialoux head of the infectious diseases department at Tenon hospital in Paris calls for the country to “return to lockdown” pleading that we "must leave the economy aside” adding that "The economy can be recovered but people lives in intensive care can not”.

Easyjet to sell nine of its aircraft - The British airline Easyjet which has been hard hit by the pandemic, has announced this morning plans to sell nine of its aircraft for more than 300 million pounds to companies specializing in aircraft rental.

According to the statement, the transactions will see Airbus 320s, sold to companies specializing in aircraft leasing. EasyJet will then sign a contract with these companies in order to be able to lease the aircraft and continue to use them, for a period of almost ten years.

Once the operations are completed, the British 'low-cost' company will own 152 aircraft, or around 44% of its fleet.

Plagued by the pandemic, EasyJet will suffer the first annual loss in its history and will only operate at 25% of its planned capacity between October and December.

And Finally 

According to research the average male gets bored of a shopping trip after 26 minutes. Meanwhile, women don’t get tired of shopping until around 2 hours!

So next time you see a couple at a store with a bored looking boyfriend, you know they’ve been out for more than half an hour.