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PARIS, Feb 4 (Reuters) - French Prime Minister Jean Castex
said on Thursday that the coronavirus situation in France
remained fragile but that for the moment there was no need for a
new national lockdown.
Castex said the rate of infection had not significantly
increased over the past two weeks, even if the pressure on
French hospitals remained strong.
"We must stick with the current restrictions we already have
in place ... but the situation today does not justify a new
national lockdown," he told a news conference.
Castex acknowledged that many other countries had started
their vaccination campaign more quickly than France but he said
this was the result of the French government's decision to begin
with the most vulnerable people in retirement homes.
While they only make up one percent of the population, he
said, they have accounted for nearly a third of the more-than
77,000 COVID-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
By the end of this week all retirement home residents will
have been offered a first vaccine shot, with a second shot due
by early March, he said.
The government aims to offer the vaccine to all adults in
France by the end of the summer.
Castex said the first doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine should
arrive in France by the end of the week, helping the government
reach its target of four million inoculations by the end of the
month.
He said France's progressive tightening of restrictions had
allowed it to keep the economy more open than some neighbours
had been able to, but warned there could be no let-up and called
on companies to enforce more home-working.
"Working from home is imperative whenever possible," he
said.
He also announced a three-week lockdown for the French
island of Mayotte, located off the coast of Mozambique, which
has been hit by the South African variant of the virus.
"It is not the time to ease up now," he said, adding that he
would not hesitate to tighten curbs on free movement if there
was a spike in infections.
(Reporting by Geert De Clercq and Dominique Vidalon; Editing by
Richard Lough and Gareth Jones)
