France: Macron warned of 'full capacities' in hospitals by expert 1769459160rbcNIqa3
Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday announced France will head into a second lockdown from midnight on Friday as the country struggles to curb the coronavirus. Most businesses bar factories will be forced to shut down and people asked to provide police with a form about why they are outside if stopped. But Mr Macron has now been warned the rate of infections will need to come down within three weeks or all intensive care beds will be filled.
Jean-Louis Touraine, the head of the French Hospital Federation, told the Today programme: "A little more than half the beds in intensive care units are dedicated to Covid patients.
"The situation is alarming because we know that due to the number of people in hospital but not yet in intensive care units, all capacities will be occupied by these patients in two-three weeks' time."
France has been experiencing one of the worst spikes in fresh COVID-19 infections, with authorities repeatedly reporting over 30,000 new cases in a single day this week.
Under the new restrictions, only schools and takeaways will be allowed to remain open.
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Jean-François Delfraissy, the chair of the COVID-19 Committee, had warned in September President Macron would need to "take a series of difficult decisions within eight to ten days maximum."
Following the announcement, Prof Delfraissy warned the current situation is now "less favourable than in March".
"We are going to have 15 days - 3 extremely difficult weeks for the health system. This time, the contaminations are done on the whole territory," he said.
But the Covid expert also insisted it is "essential to find a complex balance between a sanitary and societal vision".
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He continued: "It is essential that schools can continue. This disease is unjust at the social level. It affects the oldest and the most precarious".
Prof Delfraissy also warned that even if the lockdown ends in December, the curfew "could continue even at Christmas and for New Year's parties".
Addressing France in the second national televised speech in the past month, Mr Macron warned the virus has been spreading well beyond what scientific forecasters had predicted.
Mr Macron said: "Like all our neighbours, we are submerged by the sudden acceleration of the virus.
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"We are all in the same position: overrun by a second wave which we know will be harder, more deadly than the first.
"The virus is circulating at a speed that not even the most pessimistic forecasts had anticipated."
President Macron said the Government will be reviewing the lockdown should the situation improve in the next two weeks.
He however insisted he reserved the right to do whatever possible to ensure the virus was kept under control and no further lives were lost to COVID-19.