PARIS, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Despite data showing a slowing down of the coronavirus spread after four weeks of lockdown, officials and health authorities in France nonetheless have said the strict measures should be extended to avoid a second wave of the epidemic, warning people not to expect a sudden or complete relaxation of confinement and quarantine rules.
As of Sunday, the number of people who have died from the coronavirus in France totaled 14,393, representing a one-day increase of 561, down from Saturday's 643, while serious cases decreased for the fourth straight day to 6,845, showed data from the health ministry.
"We are seeing the start of a very high plateau but we must remain vigilant... We must not relax our efforts and continue to reduce the number of contacts every day to curb altogether the virus contagion," said the ministry, suggesting that the gloom will not be over shortly.
LOCKDOWN DEBATES
France decided on March 17 to put its 67 million residents into lockdown to curb the spread of the virus. The measures have been extended until April 15 and are likely to be prolonged again.
The scientific council, which advises the French government on the epidemic crisis, had in late March recommended prolonging confinement at least for six weeks after it was put in place, which means till the end of April.
"At present, confinement is the only really operational strategy," the council said in its recommendations released late March.
In recent days, officials and experts were hitting the airwaves to reiterate that strict respect of restrictions on public life was a precondition for a possible easing of the lockdown. Hardly anyone presented a clear idea of how the confinement measures might be lifted and when the return to normalcy would be.
In the last question session at the National Assembly, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said the government was working on de-confinement.
"To prepare does not mean that it is ready. That meant to work on technical, scientific and logistical levels to be ready when the time comes," he said without giving a timetable.
In a study released on Sunday, French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, in collaboration with Pierre Louis Institute of Epidemiology and Public Health and Sorbonne University, warned that "lifting the lockdown with no exit strategy would lead to a second wave, which would largely overwhelm the healthcare system (again)."
"Extensive case detection, testing and isolation are required to envision (new) social distancing strategies that gradually relax current constraints (larger fraction of individuals going back to work, progressive reopening of activities), while keeping schools closed and seniors isolated," the study said.
It suggested that by implementing aggressive case detection and isolation combined with strict respect of social distancing, the lockdown could be lifted in May.
On the medium to long term, different intensity of social distancing interventions can be maintained, depending on sufficient testing kits and isolation capacity, it added.
ECONOMIC IMPACTS
Following the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, the French government pledged to increase testing to 50,000 daily tests by the end of April from 5,000 in mid-March.
In addition, it has already ordered 5 million rapid tests in order to reinforce health services' ability to detect the virus once the lockdown would be lifted.
"The French are more and more worried. In addition to health aspect, there is now growing concern about the economic situation. We will have to lift the lockdown to revive the country's (economy) but at this stage, we have neither the date nor the method to do so," a government advisor was quoted as saying by France info radio.
In a report last week, French central bank BdF noted the coronavirus pandemic has hit hard local businesses in tourism and manufacturing, with the country's economic activity tumbled by 32 percent since the lockdown began.
It estimated that every two-week confinement would lead to a 1.5-percent loss in the gross domestic product (GDP).
The government expected the French economy to shrink by 6 percent, and the budget deficit would hit 7.6 percent of the GDP this year.
Eyes are now on the Elysee Palace. French citizens hope to find answers in President Emmanuel Macron's televised address later on Monday.
Initially scheduled for April 9, Macron's speech, the third since the coronavirus epidemic began in early March, was postponed to offer more time to consultations with "a large number of public and private actors, French, European and international, on what is at stake concerning COVID-19" to prepare "the decisions that will be announced on Monday," local media reported citing the presidency.
"Macron should describe how the end of the tunnel will be. Will the de-confinement be proceeded according to age, profession, state of health, region, etc? Will we be de-confined on different dates with different constraints? He must concretely answer all these questions," Christophe Barbier, a political commentator told BFMTV news channel.
