French Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot was admitted to the hospital after contracting Covid-19, her spokesman told CNN on Wednesday, the second government minister hospitalized with the virus this week. The 74-year-old had received her first dose of the vaccine on March 17.
Labor Minister Élisabeth Borne, 59, was hospitalized with Covid-19 on Monday and discharged on Wednesday, according to a ministry statement.
“I’m relieved,” Borne tweeted as he left the hospital. She tested positive for the virus on March 1.
Confinement of covid: France is experiencing a third wave of coronavirus, with new blocking restrictions implemented in 16 areas last Friday.
Non-essential deals have been closed in the most affected areas of France, where people have been banned from moving more than 10 km from their homes or traveling between regions without a valid reason.
The new measures are less restrictive than those imposed in March and November last year, acknowledged Prime Minister Jean Castex when he announced them last week.
“Very clearly, the messages have not arrived. The weekend’s confusion generated more distrust, ”said Jean-François Timsit, head of the ICU at Bichat Paris hospital, on France Inter radio on Wednesday, referring to the setback in travel permits while criticizing the complicated nature of restrictions.
“We should have hit the brakes earlier,” he added in the interview.
Recalling that Covid-19’s positive cases may now require hospitalization in the coming weeks, Timsit said: “The next month will be hell.”
“We have several difficult weeks ahead of us,” said French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin at BFMTV on Wednesday morning, adding: “Covid is once again doing a kind of expansion, it is very worrying.”
Easter restrictions: The minister said in the interview that there will be no relaxation of restrictions for the Easter weekend, although religious services are allowed outside the night curfew. He also encouraged the French public to “not meet to in the coming weekends. “
“We must limit them,” said the minister of Easter celebrations. “They must remain within the strict family intimacy of the home, the apartment, and we must not receive friends, family, or travel.”