Admitting the country had not been prepared for the outbreak, the PM nevertheless praised those in front-line occupations for working overtime to save lives and called on the French to continue to stay home and maintain social distancing. Economic assistance would be stepped up for workers in those sectors that had to remain closed, he added, promising a specific plan for the tourism, hotels, restaurant, and culture sectors.

Macron pledged that May 11 would represent “the beginning of a new step,” after which schools, daycares, and other educational institutions would be progressively reopened.

At that time, “the vast majority” of French will be able to begin returning to work, he explained, though restaurants, cafes, and other public gathering places would remain shuttered. Festivals and other large gatherings will remain postponed until at least mid-July. The situation will be reevaluated weekly.

Borders with non-European countries will remain closed until further notice. The government hopes to have face masks available for everyone by May 11, and their use by professions having frequent contact with the public will be mandatory.

France has been locked down since mid-March and has a total of 133,685 confirmed cases of coronavirus, ranking behind only the US, Spain, and Italy in terms of casualties. Almost 15,000 people have died with the disease, though the death rate among hospitalized patients has slowed over the weekend and the number of patients being treated in intensive care has declined for several days.

#MACRON20H02 L'épidémie commence à marquer le pas. Les résultats sont là, plusieurs ont pu être épargnées, depuis quelques jours, les entrées en réanimation diminuent.#Coronavirus ➡️ https://t.co/434srX0csI pic.twitter.com/Pmgok4aptd — RT France (@RTenfrancais) April 13, 2020

The nation’s economy has taken a beating from the pandemic-induced shutdown, with the Bank of France recently reporting its worst first-quarter performance since World War II. The last two weeks of March specifically saw a 32 percent drop in economic activity, according to the central bank, which expects the economy to continue shrinking by 1.5 percent for every two weeks the nation spends under lockdown.



Marine Le Pen has called for a national referendum in order to stop what she called the “submersion” of France via a “globalist” program of mass immigration.

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