News
Doctors warning - Doctors in the Ile de France region have warned that if a hard lockdown is not introduced from April 1st 230 people will be hospitalised every day which is almost double today’s numbers, with hospital unable to reach the demand. The Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) has presented alarming projections saying the longer France waits the worse it will get.
The number of people in intensive care in French hospitals has reached 4,974, higher than during the second wave last November. Meanwhile, Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer is coming under pressure to close French schools as the number of children affected rises to more than 20,000. At the moment classes go online as soon as a positive case is confirmed.
French media is this morning reporting that President Emmanuel Macron is considering making an address to the nation tomorrow Wednesday 31st March after the health defense council.
And International experts recently dispatched to China to investigate the origins of the pandemic will this afternoon present details of their conclusions, which favor transmission via an intermediate animal without being able to identify it at this stage.
Working from home - According to a new study more than a third of employees in France who could work remotely in March didn’t. Speaking on French media this morning France’s employment minister toughened the tone on rules in place for employees who can work from home but don’t. Elisabeth Borne recalls "that the Labor Code on the protection of employees, includes also a health protocol that requires employees to work remotely as soon as possible ". The government ensures that in 90% of cases, formal notices are followed up, but only 34 formal notices have been issued out of a total of 24,000 checks since the start of the year.
Driving licence - Due to an administrative overload and what appears to be a failure of France and the UK to sign a post-Brexit reciprocal agreement, thousands of British citizens in France have been left without a valid driving licence.
At the end of 2020 the French government announced that as a consequence of Brexit, British residents of France would need to exchange their UK licences for French ones and would have until 31 December 2021 to apply to do so. Short-term visitors and tourists in France can continue to use British licences.
However, those applying to exchange their licences since January have had their requests systematically rejected by a new French online system, known as ANTS, on the grounds that no reciprocal licence agreement is yet in place between the UK and France. Government sources suggest a UK-France reciprocity agreement is “close to being sealed”, but not there yet.
Gendarme du Saint-Tropez - The 1963 Oldsmobile Cutlass convertible, seen in the film the Gendarme du Saint-Tropez has been sold on Leboncoin. The car with 108,500 km on the clock retched 28,500 euros. The piece of cinema history was seen in the final sequence of the Gendarme du Saint-Tropez (1964),
And Finally
A group of mothers have shared an age-old trick to repel fruit flies for good - and all you need are a few wine corks. Australian parenting group Mum Central explained how placing wine corks in fruit bowls works as a natural repellent to keep fruits clear of the bugs.
Natural corks are said to 'absorb moisture' from the ripening fruits, which then 'activates a fragrance' that keeps flies at bay without using any chemicals. For those who don't drink wine or have any cork tops lying around, there are wine corks for sale on eBay from just $12 for a bag of 30.
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