French PM Edouard Philippe about to give a press conference on Covid-19. Will tweet the best bits.
Life when lockdown ends on 11 May in France will not immediately be as it was before - and probably mot for a long time, the PM says.
Jerome Salomon, chief medical officer, announces French death toll is now 19,748 - 395 more than yesterday. This is a substantial drop in the rate of daily deaths, hospitals and care homes included, but the weekend figures are often undercounted.
Salomon also says pressure on intensive care capacity has fallen for 11th day in a row. now 5,744 - 89 less than yesterday. Sorry. I mistyped the new death toll. Should be 19,718.
Philippe now describing successes of the lockdown. Intensive care demand, which was exploding, has been kept within emergency capacity of 10,000 (5,000 normally). The epidemic has been prevented from spreading to central and western Fr from its heartlands in Alsace and Paris area
The spread of the epidemic is "under control," he says. The hospital system has "taken the shock". Partly by transferring 644 patients from worst areas to less afflicted ones/other countries - by medicalised TGV's mostly. A great exploit, he claims, which saved numerous lives.
On masks...He says France has doubled its medical mask production from 4m to 8m and imported many millions from China. France now has more than it needs for frontline medical staff and will start to make them more widely available.
Word now passed to health minister Olivier Veran. He admits that the most advanced medical mask are still in somewhat short supply but he insists those available are adequate.
Veran also concedes that other protective equipment, gowns. gloves etc, are lacking but says the situation is improving. Blames world demand and shortages.
Veran addressing question of crisis in care homes. He says 45% have been infected by C19 but all now have necessary medical back up, including volunteer medical students/ trainee nurses. Government now ready he says to relax rules and allow family visits to people in care homes.
Now over to Prof Florence Ader, leading infection specialist from Lyon, to speak on progress in knowledge about the virus. She says extraordinary progress has been made in studying C19.
Testing of potential treatment drugs including Chloraquine is making great strides, she says. Use of such medicines is unlikely to produce a miracle cure but could ease inflammation of lunge etc...
How does C19 function? Discoveries have already opened the way towards drugs/vaccines specifically conceived to attack this virus. All rather vague though...
Back to PM E. Philippe now to talk about economic crisis. Says French GDP likely to fall by 10 % this year - something unheard of. Economy under lockdown is 36% reduced on normal. Govt aim is to keep business on life support so it can return to action as rapidly as possible.
He reminds the French - so ready to criticise - that they have been given the most generous c19 economic support in world (inc 9,000,000 people on 80% salary at state expense). He makes comparison with USA - where 22,000,000 have simply lost their jobs.
Philippe finally to talk about how the lockdown will be eased from 11 May. Two main principles will be 1. Health comes first. 2. Continuing the life of the nation, in producing food, providing education, investment, which can't be frozen indefinitely.
Key will be how many people can be infected by one person with virus, he says. To check virus, the number must be 1 for 1 or less, he says. Confinement say Fr has reduced it to 0.6 for 1. Aim is that from 11 May that this number remains 1 for 1 at most.
France must "learn to live with the virus", the PM says. Population will not be immunised for a long time. At most 6m Fr people have been exposed. No vaccine until next year, at earliest. Medicine not yet sure. Only one defence remains - prevention.
Long time prevention means 1. keeping up the social distancing 2. more tests (france weak on this area until now) 3. isolation of carriers of c19.
Will all French have to wear basic masks outside? (This is something Macron has rejected.) Veran, the health minister, is suggesting that, yes, it would be a good idea for it to become systematic.
Veran is explaining that the new testing spoken of by Philippe should be both the diagnostic tests and, in time, antibody tests which detect who has already been exposed to c19. But these tests don't yet exist, he admits, although progress is being made.
France also planning system of tracing movements of people on a voluntary basis...which will be debated by parliament later this month.
Philippe says upshot is that normal life will be heavily impacted for many months after lockdown eases - but there is no alternative until a vaccine is found. Living with the virus will be the new normal.
Public transport? Masks will probably be obligatory. Work?Distance working will be maintained where possible. factories, offices, shops etc which return to work will have to have rigorous social distancing rules. Bars, restaurants? Not yet.
Schools? They won't open completely or all at once. But they must open, the PM says. Some pupils, for social reasons, can't participate in present tele teaching. A serious danger for the nation if they are lost, he says.
School opening likely to be organised region by region with areas where virus is scarcely present opening more completely than afflicted areas. Teachers and mayors will be consulted.
Press conference has been going on for nearly two hours. No questions allowed yet (coming soon) just a long lecture. Philippe: "From 111 May, we will progressively reconquer our liberty but it can only be progressive."
11 may
Will warmer weather kill the virus, a journalist asks. Maybe, says the PM. I hope so. But you can't build public policy on that hope. Has anyone in France caught the virus twice? No.
Questions are being phoned or texted in and relayed by journalist from AFP. Will masks be sold or issued by the state? Not sure yet. Perhaps both.
Why so little French testing until now? Veran (heated): You can't test everyone. We've been testing everyone who shows symptoms or contacts. But there is a limit on available chemicals/kits worldwide. Even Germans are running out. We did what we could.
Teachers may be reluctant to go back? Philippe: The crisis has shown that many little regarded jobs, from cleaners to shelf-stackers, are in fact essential. Teacher are also essential.
Travel to and from France? PM: Unreasonable to go back to normal at this stage.
Presser ends. Philippe promises others as long as crisis lasts. "Take care of yourselves."
