French News Digest: Paris on ‘Maximum Alert’

Sunday’s report from Santé Public France showed 32 Covid-19 related deaths in hospitals in the previous 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths to 32,230. There were 12,565 new cases of contamination in the same period, bringing the total of confirmed cases to 619,190.

The number of deaths in Ehpads (care homes) and EMS (medico-socio centres) now stands at 10,781 while the total number of deaths in hospitals is 21,449.

4,264 people were hospitalised in the last seven days, including 893 serious cases in intensive care. The test positivity rate has risen to 8.2%.

According to the data from Santé Public France, 66 departments are currently in a situation of high vulnerability, while the regions of Île-de-France, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Hauts-de-France and Grand Est account for 70% of patients in intensive care.

Breakdown of current hospitalisations and number of deaths in the 24 hours to Sunday:

• Ile-de-France: 2,259 hospitalised patients and 5 deaths in 24 hours
• Grand Est: 281 hospitalizations and 5 deaths in 24 hours
• Hauts de France: 656 hospitalised and 6 deaths in 24 hours
• Auvergne Rhône Alpes: 876 hospitalised and 3 deaths in 24 hours
• Provence-Alpes Côte d’Azur: 842 hospitalised and 6 deaths in 24 hours
• Brittany: 171 hospitalised and 1 death in 24 hours
• Normandy: 255 hospitalised and 2 deaths in 24 hours
• New-Aquitaine: 374 hospitalised and 4 deaths in 24 hours
• Pays de la Loire: 183 hospitalised and 1 death in 24 hours
• Occitanie: 457 hospitalizations and 4 deaths in 24 hours
• Centre-Val de Loire: 146 hospitalised and 0 deaths in 24 hours
• Burgundy-Franche-Comté: 130 hospitalised and 1 death in 24 hours
• Reunion: 53 hospitalised and 0 deaths in 24 hours
• Guadeloupe: 189 hospitalised and 1 death in 24 hours

France currently has 1,340 cluster outbreaks, including 54 new ones and 265 in Ehpads. French authorities define a cluster as when there are at least three confirmed or suspected cases of Covid-19 contamination, over a period of seven days and that these people belong to the same community or have participated in the same gathering, whether they know each other or not.

Paris on ‘maximum alert’: bars closed, museums remain open

As announced by the Prime Minister on Sunday evening, Paris and its three surrounding department (Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne) have become ‘maximum alert zones’ due to Covid-19.

The capital’s police prefect detailed new restrictions that come into force today, with bars obliged to close their doors, parties and gatherings banned or restricted, and many establishments such as gambling clubs also forced to shut down. Restaurants, however, can remain open, albeit with stricter sanitary protocols. [Aix and Marseille restaurants are also free to re-open.]

The three criteria taken into account by the government to place a department under maximum alert are: an incidence rate of more than 250 cases per 100,000 inhabitants; an incidence rate of more than 100 cases per 100,000 people in the 65 years and older age group; and finally areas where the proportion of patients with Covid-19 in intensive care units is more than 30%. In Paris, the threshold was exceeded on all three criteria, triggering the capital’s classification as a maximum alert zone.

Here is the full list of new measures in place in Paris:

• Gatherings of more than 10 people prohibited in public (except for demonstrations, marches, filming, guided tours, food distribution, queues and Covid screening)
• Bars will be closed as of Tuesday, October 6
• Restaurants may remain open, provided that they comply with reinforced sanitary protocols
• Student parties and parties in public places are not permitted
• Ban on the sale of take-away alcohol after 10 p.m.
• Prohibition of amplified music in public areas
• Closing of clubs, games rooms, and dance halls to the public
• Prohibition of wedding parties in establishments open to the public
• Prohibition of fairs and exhibitions
• Prohibition of marquees, tents and structures like circuses
• Clubs, fitness rooms and swimming pools are closed
• Stadiums and sporting gatherings authorised but limited to 1,000 people, or, according to the surface area of the venue, to 50% of capacity
• Shopping centres limited to 1 person per 4sqm
• Theatres, cinemas and museums remain open
• Stricter sanitary protocols in care homes
• Universities and faculties are limited to 50% of their capacity as of today

Four out of five of say French hospitals ‘doing well’ during Covid crisis

The French are almost unanimous in trusting the country’s healthcare system to fight the Covid-19 epidemic, according to a new survey.

The Health Observatory survey conducted by Odoxa for the MNH (Mutuelle nationale des hospitaliers), franceinfo, le Figaro Santé and the SciencesPo Health Chair, revealed that the French are grateful to the hospital system for having responded to the health crisis this spring. More than eight out of ten (83%) feel that it did well, even if the same number of those questioned said the country’s public hospitals are ‘in danger’.

More than nine out of ten respondents (92%) have confidence in doctors and 96% have trust in nurses.

However, only 46% of French people give the Ministry of Health credit for its handling of the pandemic.

The health situation overall worries three quarters of French people (77%) and 84% of hospital staff. 74% of French people are worried about the health of their relatives while 57% are concerned about their own health. Among working people, 59% are afraid of being contaminated in their workplace, a figure rising to 68% among caregivers.

More than two thirds of the French (68%), feel the future of healthcare institutions is insufficiently taken into account by public authorities, with a massive (97%) considering this is a major challenge for society.

The survey was carried out among 2,004 people representative of the French population aged 18 and over, interviewed online from September 16 to 21. 3,910 hospital healthcare professionals were also surveyed online from September 11 to 25.