France warned that peak has not been reached as death toll passes 10,000
Paris brings in tougher rules including a jogging ban, while Spain extends quarantine period
FRANCE last night broke the grim coronavirus death toll of 10,000 as health officials warned that talk of lifting confinement “currently makes no sense” and that the epidemic’s peak had not yet been reached.
France’s daily death toll from the outbreak yesterday hit the shocking total of 1,427, according to the French health ministry, after deaths in care homes were included in the tally.
According to the French health ministry, some 7,091 people had died in hospital, an increase of 597 in 24 hours. But at least 3,237 have died in care homes since the start of the outbreak.
France’s health director, Jérôme Salomon, said that the jump was “probably due to the delay in inputting (the deaths) and the fact that we are coming out of a weekend”. France only started including deaths from coronavirus in retirement homes late last week.
More than 30,000 people are currently hospitalised in France, 7,131 of them in intensive care.
“That’s an indicator that the epidemic is continuing its advance,” said Mr Salomon.
In one glimmer of good news, the number of patients leaving intensive care was higher by 59 than the number entering such services.
However, Mr Salomon said “we have not yet reached the peak” even if the rate of admissions was slowing slightly. As a result, “to talk about lifting confinement makes no sense”.
France’s scientific committee said confinement would continue beyond the current deadline of Apr 15, probably until early May at the earliest.
Meanwhile, Spain’s government dismissed the first rise in the daily death toll from Covid-19 in five days as a blip, insisting the numbers were “going in the right direction”, but extended lockdown until at least Apr 26.
As businesses in Italy and elsewhere pleaded with the government to consider lifting confinement to avoid economic collapse, the World Health Organisation yesterday urged countries not to lift lockdowns too early.
“One of the most important parts is not to let go of the measures too early in order not to have a fallback again,” said WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier in a virtual briefing.
“It’s similar to being sick yourself, if you get out of bed too early and get running too early, you risk falling back and having complications,” he added.
In Spain, 743 people died in the 24 hours up to yesterday morning, compared with 637 the previous day. But chief government spokesman María Jesús Montero said the figure was a “ripple” in the statistical trend owing to the processing of administrative data through the weekend.
“The tendency of the data says we are going in right direction,” said Ms Montero, announcing that yesterday’s cabinet meeting had approved an extension of the state of emergency to keep Spanish families under lockdown.
“The isolation measures are working, they are proving effective,” Ms Montero said, stating that there were no plans to relax rules to allow children outside for exercise.
As of Easter Monday, however, the rule confining all but key workers to their homes will lapse, and factories and the construction sector will be allowed to resume operations.
In Paris, mayor Anne Hidalgo announced that jogging was off limits between 10am and 7pm after a weekend in which large groups of residents were seen running or strolling in sunny streets.
Elsewhere, the resort of Biarritz, in south-western France, banned people from sitting on public benches for more than two minutes, adding that “dawdling is prohibited”.