In the event the epidemic worsens in the coming days in France, a new lockdown may become reality for the French, Véran warns. This is at least the message the health minister intended to convey during the press brief held on Thursday February 11, 2021 about the spread of Covid-19 variants. As curfew has been instated since December 14, 2020, the Health Minister has been cautious. “We’ll be able to say if it has been enough in the coming weeks” to stop the spread of virus “or if we need to make additional measures like a lockdown” the minister warns.
As for a likely new lockdown in France, nothing is to be ruled out. Even though Véran would rather stay magnanimous with the state of the health situation, he also does not want to give false hopes or even worse, false promises to the French. “Every week we win over the variant is a week the country can breathe, and a week of vaccination for the most fragile among us” the Health Minister repeats. “We do not gamble on the future, but we notice we already have bought time” Véran hopes.
As for restrictions and their effectiveness, the minister prefers to highlight the silver linings. “Curfew, compliance with health guidelines, managing measures we have instated, our offensive strategy of testing – alerting – protecting, that has dramatically increased, enabled us to curb the spread of the (UK) variant, as they have enabled us to curb the spread of the general virus in our country” the minister insists on. As of now, “by holding on together, as we do, we can hope and buy enough time to prevent lockdown” the doctor warns.
