Riviera Radio Weekend News Saturday 11th April 2020

Coronavirus - According to the daily report delievered by France's director general of health on Friday, more than 13,000 people have died in France since the start of the coronavirus epidemic. Among which "a child under 10 years old" in the Ile-de-France whose cause of death was also related to other health issue announced Jérôme Salomon.

The slight decrease in the number of patients admitted to intensive care on Thursday continues, with 62 fewer patients in 24 hours, "a very slight thinning in the number of cases but " "very important for all caregivers," said Professor Salomon.

Mougins nursing home - Four families who lost loved ones at the Mougins nursing home have filed a complaint against X for manslaughter, failure to assist a person in danger and putting others in danger.

Relatives of four residents of an Ehpad in Mougins (Alpes-Maritimes), where the Covid-19 has killed 36 residents since the start of the epidemic, filed a complaint on Friday, April 10th. They deplore deaths learned in "aberrant conditions".

The  complaint follows an initial complaint, filed in early April by the family of another resident of the Ehpad, La Riviera, which had 109 residents before the crisis, and belongs to the Korian group.

Mountain villages in the region are witnessing the arrival of too many tourists - Several mountain villages in the region, including Isola and Auron, are alarmed to see an increasing number of tourists in search of fresh air. If these areas are still more or less preserved from the wave of coronavirus cases in the region the residents of these resorts are seeing more and more secondary residents arrive, who are actually "perceived as plague victims", similar to the Parisians who fled to Brittany at the start of confinement.

Notre Dame Cathedral - Nearly a year after fire devastated Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, the city’s Archbishop held a small ceremony to mark Good Friday, praying that Easter’s message of rebirth might bring comfort to a country stricken by the coronavirus pandemic.

Only seven people, including Paris Archbishop Michel Aupetit, attended the solemn service, but many more watched on their televisions. 

French President Emmanuel Macron - During a videoconference on Friday morning French President Emmanuel Macron has highlighted the evolution of the coronavirus pandemic in the world, emphasising the fact that the virus has not affected countries at the same time. Which has led to considering possible measures to limit cross border travel in the Schengen area until September, due to the global coronavirus crisis?

The French president had announced that the countries of the Schengen zone were thinking of leaving the borders of space closed at least until September. 

Emmanuel Macron notably cited the example of the United States, where the coronavirus crisis is delayed by several weeks and which will therefore reach its peak later. But also that of Africa, where the situation is developing differently. In Asia, a second peak may occur.

The French president stressed that people who thought they could go abroad were going to be in trouble. A remark that comes close to the recommendations of the Minister of Ecological Transition Elisabeth Borne who on wednesday said that "Today is not the time to buy a ticket to go to the other side of the planet with all the uncertainties that we can have about what will be the state of the epidemic" in France and around the world. 

This closing of the borders could also have an impact on the economic recovery, implied the head of state. The head of state is to give a presidential address on Monday evening.