The head of France's hospital federation on Friday called for a new nationwide lockdown as a Paris hospital executive warned that hospitals hardest hit by Covid-19 will need to delay some other procedures in the latest sign of tensions between the government and health officials over measures to handle the pandemic, reports Yahoo! News.
Frédéric Valletoux, president of the Federation of French Hospitals (FHF), who is also mayor of Fontainebleau just south of Paris, told LCI TV that while the situation in hospitals was under control for now, it remained "very tense" in many areas.
Amid growing differences between the French government and health officials, Bruno Riou, head of the Paris AP-HP hospitals' crisis team, on Friday warned that hospitals and intensive care units hardest-hit by Covid-19 will need to start delaying some other procedures.
Their warnings came a day after Prime Minister Jean Castex said the Covid-19 situation in France was "fragile" but did not justify a new lockdown at present.
Castex said the rate of infection had not significantly increased over the past two weeks, even if the pressure on French hospitals remained strong.