Health minister Olivier Véran at weekly press conference says IF Covid-19 situation in Paris doesn't improve over weekend the city could be placed on "maximum alert" and all bars and restaurants ordered to close as of Monday.
"We have to anticipate this possibility", Véran said.
The R-rate of contamination is 1.3, ie for every 10 people who are contaminated, they contaminate 13 (compare this with height of epidemic when the rate was 10 people contaminating 30 people) Véran says.
The Minister of Health points out that few French territories have escaped the the rapid circulation of the virus. Major cities are on heightened alert. Aix-en-Provence, Marseille and Grenoble are on high alert.
Two categories are most impacted by these contaminations, Véran says: the young and healthy, "who do not realise" because they have no symptoms or don't think they have symptoms and vulnerable people who are "seriously" affected.
Véran: Out of 10 patients in intensive care, 3 are less than 65 years old. He urged everyone to continue their efforts, masks, distancing, washing hands and above all "reducing the number of social contacts".
"We are in a "worsening phase", Véran said. The minister said studies showed that bars, gyms and sports halls were places of particular risk of contamination, whatever the efforts the owners made to reduce the risk.
Health minister Olivier Véran said the testing campaign was "unprecedented" and that 75% of test results were given in under 48 hours. Said authorities aiming to have test results delivered in 36 hours.
Working from home is "encouraged". In certain big cities virus evolving too quickly (Lille, Lyon, Grenoble, Toulouse, and Saint Etienne - described as "worrying").
Bordeaux, Nice and Marseille the virus has slowed down.
The situation in the Hauts -de-France region worrying.
Working from home is "encouraged" where possible.
For every ten people in intensive care with Covid-19, three are under 65 years old, Véran said.
That's the end of the press conference. Will post the daily figures when the websites are updated later this evening.
*under 65 years old
* The health authorities in France say 1.3 million PCR tests (nasal tests) are currently being carried out every week.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
The courageous Gisèle Pélicot whose husband drugged her and invited men to rape her over a period of ten years, has taken the stand again to slap down claims by several accused that she knew what was going on. "Since I arrived at this court, I have felt humiliated...1/x
"I've been called an alcoholic that I got myself into such an alcoholic state that I'm an accomplice to Monsieur Pélicot. It is so humiliating and degrading to hear that," she told the court. 2/x
The president of the court asked her if she had consented to the sexual "partners". She said the question was "shocking".
"Absolutely not. I did not for one second give them my consent," she said. "In the state I was I couldn't say anything as the videos show". 3/x
To sum up the main points from the International Boxing Association press conference in Paris. I am reporting what was said, not commenting on it or making any claim about the veracity of it. 1/?
*Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting were among 4 boxers who underwent blood test carried out by a laboratory in Istanbul at a championship in May 2022 after questions from boxers, coaches and medics. Two boxers’ results were clear. Khelif and Yu-ting’s results were “inconsistent”. 2/?
*A second blood test was carried out on Khelif and Yu-ting by another laboratory before another championship in March 2023.
*Based on the results of the second tests, Khelif and Yu-ting were told they were disqualified from the 2023 competition and had the chance to appeal. 3/?
The International Boxing Association, which the IOC says is discredited, is holding a press conference in Paris to address the row over boxers who it says failed "gender tests" and were disqualified from the World Women's Boxing Championship last year. 1/x
The two boxers at the centre of the claims and counter-claims are Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan, both taking part in the Paris Olympics. 2/x
Elysée briefing on Ukraine following Emmanuel Macron's telephone conversation with President Zelensky.
"We (France) want Ukraine to be victorious. We want the territorial integrity of Ukraine reestablished, we want this conflict, this war of Russia's against Ukraine to end..1/n
"...as soon as possible and that negotiations start that will allow not only the reestablishing of Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty, but also take into account a number of other very important elements, including transitional justice, the payment of...2/n
"...war damages etc. We also hope for, and its also important for us to be able to obtain this in the months to come, that when the war is over that we have a greater clarity of what is necessary for all of us...that's to say, the security and stability of Europe..." 3/n
French president Emmanuel Macron spoke again to Russian president Vladimir Putin today. Was a 1hr45min call made by Macron. Putin reiterated his demands for: 1. The "de-Nazification" of Ukraine 2. The "neutralisation" of Ukraine (ie no joining Nato and no weapons). #Ukraine 1/n
3. Recognition that Crimea is Russian 4. Independence of the Donbas
According to Elysée Putin "expressed his determination to obtain all these objections by negotiation or by war."
Macron insisted Russia cease its military operation, respect international humanitarian...2/n
2/n
...law and negotiate. Elysée wants the International Atomic Energy Authority to secure guarantees from Russia and Ukraine on the safety of civil nuclear installations. 3/n
New thread: this morning I spoke to a British Ukrainian (UK passport holder) stuck in France waiting for @ukhomeoffice to approve visas for his Ukrainian wife and daughter (who is diabetic).
He drove from his home near London to the Polish border to pick them up and then...1/n
...drove to Calais where he was turned away from crossing the Channel and told to go to the British consulate in Paris. They drove back to Paris. At the consulate they were asked to fill in a visa application form. This asked them to pay €2,200 each (ie €4,400 for his...2/n
(...wife and daughter). This was on Monday/Tuesday. The fee has since been waived after the visa application system went online Friday. Yakiv Voloshchuk, his wife Oxsana and daughter Veronika are now stuck in France waiting for visa applications to be approved. 3/n