On Tuesday, Edouard Philippe, French Prime Minister, said the lockdown currently in place in France has saved tens of thousands of lives, but it’s time to relax the constraints to prevent economic collapse.
The government is now trying to take advantage of the falling rates of infection to rescue a failing economy, even though Philippe said the French people would have to adapt to a new way of living.
On Monday, the death toll in France surpassed 23,000, the fourth highest in the world after the USA, Italy, and Spain as of the time of writing.
Philippe told parliament on Tuesday:
“We are going to have to learn to live with the virus,”
“We must learn to live with COVID-19 and to protect ourselves from it.”
The government of France is facing a delicate balancing act aimed at alleviating the growing frustration of people locked up in their homes since mid-March without increasing the risk of a second wave of infections if France moves too quickly.
On May 11, France will start emerging from the lockdown, unless it is unsafe to do so, Philippe said.
Philippe added:
“If the indicators are not right, we will not unwind the lockdown on May 11, or we will do it more strictly,”
By then, France will have the ability to perform 700,000 tests every week.
Philippe’s speech will be accompanied by a discussion and vote in the evening, with just 75 of 577 lawmakers from the National Assembly remaining in the chamber to obey social distancing laws.
The Panthera Post 