An emerging spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant of the Covid-19 virus has led to a delay in the lifting of restrictions on public movement in the Landes in south-west France, while a scientific advisor has warned that it will also likely lead to a fourth wave of the epidemic in the autumn.
The two patients who had contracted the Delta variant were aged 42 and 60, and whose health status was marked by a number of risk factors; neither were vaccinated.
Evidence collated by Reuters – including statistical data that indirectly captures the impact and testimony from community leaders – indicates the COVID death rate among French Muslims is much higher than in the overall population.
President Macron said a status called “died in the service of the republic” would be created to honour public employees who lose their life “in exceptional circumstances”.
From Wednesday May 19th non-essential retail outlets will be able to reopen to customers for the first time in six weeks as France gradually winds down its third national lockdown in little more than a year.
The French government has succeeded with its target of ensuring that 20 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine were administered by mid-May, with the next stage being the administration of a total 30 million doses by mid-June.
The social repercussions of the Covid-19 crisis have deepened the conditions of poverty in which around 9 million people in France were already living before its onset, and has tipped a significant number of others below the poverty line, according to a study commissioned by the French government. Published this week, it warns of a ‘timebomb’ of pauperisation from the cumulative effects of the crisis which will endure even after a rebound in economic activity. Faïza Zerouala reports.
As France tentatively moves towards lifting restrictions imposed to contain the coronavirus pandemic, including the re-opening of restaurants, cinemas and museums and a shorter overnight curfew, Prime Minister Jean Castex claimed the country was 'coming out of this health crisis', above all through vaccinations.
Speaking from the Portuguese city of Porto on the sidelines of an EU 'social summit', French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday accused what he called 'the Anglo-Saxons', an apparent reference to both the US and the UK, of blocking exports of anti-Covid-19 vaccines and their raw materials.
The latest edition of the French dictionary Le Petit Larousse has added an exceptional number of new words which have come into common use through the Covid-19 crisis.
For a little more than a year now, the succession of on-off lockdowns and restrictions on public and economic activity have severely disrupted the personal and professional lives of many millions in France, notably for those placed on furlough. Mediapart asked readers to provide their personal accounts of the long months deprived of work and largely confined to their homes. Cécile Hautefeuille presents here a selection of the stories that came back; some are sad, some are funny, and nearly all have an underlining theme of a questioning of the sense of their lives and jobs.
France is currently experiencing its third lockdown as the government bets that by sacrificing the Easter holidays it can save the summer vacation period.
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