French PM FINALLY calls for Paris lockdown as planes airlift Covid patients from city and EU dithers over vaccine chaos
FRENCH Prime Minister Jean Castex has finally called for a lockdown in Paris as the country struggles under a deadly third wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
The French leader said the “time has come to consider new measures in Paris” as health authorities reported almost 30,000 new cases of Covid-19 across the country amid dithering over the vaccine rollout across the EU.
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Weekend lockdowns in the French capital city are among stricter measures being considered to try to get the virus under control.
The push for greater restrictions comes as the French government airlifted patients from Paris using special planes as hospitals reached breaking point amid the chaos of the Europe's vaccine rollout.
“It seems to me that the time has come to consider new measures in the greater Paris region,” Castex said in an interview on BFM TV.
The PM said weekend lockdowns such as those already in place in other regions were among measures to be considered for the greater Paris region at a meeting on Wednesday.
“There is no reason why we shouldn’t do in one region what we are doing in another,” he said.
Nice, the French Riviera and Dunkirk were among the hardest-hit areas plunged into weekend lockdowns, but Paris and its suburbs have so far escaped the restrictions that were imposed in February.
The decision on the lockdown will be taken at today’s Defence Council meeting, after Castex indicated on online platform Twitch that case figures would be one of the main deciding factors, reported .
The French PM’s remarks come as the country’s death toll has now risen to 91,196, according to latest data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
The health ministry said there were 4,239 patients in intensive care units for Covid-19, setting a four-month high.
The total number of people hospitalised for the disease was at 25,492, a high since Feb 24.
The new wave of cases comes amid the shambles of the EU's vaccine rollout, which has been hampered by production delays, political infighting and public scepticism over the AstraZeneca jab.
As the UK appears on course to easing restrictions and vaccinating all adults by early June, Europe appears to be heading in the opposite direction.
Like other EU countries, France has lagged far behind the Britain in vaccinating its population, with only around 5.3 million people given the first dose of the vaccine so far, compared to more than 25 million in the UK.
President Emmanuel Macron still hopes vaccinations can prevent the worst effects of a third wave, and stop France from resorting to a third national lockdown.
But suspension of the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, announced on Monday over safety concerns, threatened to jeopardise the strategy.
France, Germany and Italy followed smaller EU nations such as Ireland and Estonia in banning the jab after around 40 patients had blood clots.
AstraZeneca said the rate was actually LOWER than would be expected in the general population.
Yesterday the European Medicines Agency confirmed there is “no indication” the AstraZeneca jab causes blood clots.
In a dramatic U-turn, France and Italy announced they would resume use of the jab, after admitting the ban was politically motivated.
French Europe Minister Clement Beaune admitted the suspension heaped "political pressure" on AstraZeneca amid the ongoing supply dispute.
He told Radio Classique: "There are concerns. And more than that, probably a number of breaches of contract.
“Europe is not going to be some sort of cuddly 'care bear' that hands over its money and expects nothing in return.
“We will defend our interests. There may be legal recourse. We are not ruling it out.”
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Mr Beaune also said the EU “must put pressure” on AstraZeneca to force it to deliver more doses to the bloc even as millions lie unused in fridges.
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He said: “We are stronger among Europeans than if France did it alone.
"Before any legal recourse, there is political pressure, or even the board of directors, internally in the company.”