French metropolis of Good asks vacationers to remain away amid COVID surge

The mayor of Good in southern France known as on Sunday (21 February) for a weekend lockdown within the space to scale back the circulation of vacationers because it battles a pointy spike in coronavirus infections to triple the nationwide charge, writes Geert De Clercq.

The Good space has France’s highest COVID-19 an infection charge, with 740 new instances per week per 100,000 residents, in response to Covidtracker.fr.

“We want robust measures that transcend the nationwide 6 p.m. curfew, both tighter curfew, or a partial and time-specific lockdown. A weekend lockdown would make sense,” Mayor Christian Estrosi stated on franceinfo radio.

Well being Minister Olivier Veran stated on Saturday the federal government would resolve this weekend on tightening virus management measures within the Mediterranean metropolis.

Earlier than ordering a second nationwide lockdown in November, the federal government imposed curfews some cities and closed eating places in Marseille, however it has usually avoided regional measures as a consequence of protest from native politicians and companies.

“We don’t rule out native lockdowns,” authorities spokesman Gabriel Attal stated on LCI tv.

He added that the development in new instances was not good in current days and that there was no case for loosening curfew.

“The climate is sweet, all people rushes to return right here. A weekend lockdown would put a cease to that, with out halting financial exercise within the metropolis,” Estrosi stated.

Estrosi stated an infection charges had leapt because of the large influx of vacationers over the Christmas vacation. Worldwide flights to the town had jumped from 20 a day earlier than Christmas to 120 over the vacation – all this with out folks having virus exams of their nation of origin or on arrival.

“We might be completely satisfied to obtain a lot of vacationers this summer season, as soon as we win this battle, however it’s higher to have a interval whereas we are saying ‘don’t come right here, this isn’t the second’. Defending the folks of Good is my precedence,” he stated.