The Elysée announced on Friday that Macron would be making a live TV appearance on Tuesday, November 9th, at 8pm, after insiders had told French media that he was “very worried about the health situation in Europe”.
The president’s TV addresses of 2020 usually heralded the beginning of a new lockdown, although Macron is not expected to announce strict new restrictions this time.
Case numbers have been rising across Europe and although France’s increase is small so far, both case numbers and hospital occupancy levels have shown a sustained rise for several weeks.
The below chart from Le Parisien journalist Nicolas Berrod shows the evolution in the incidence rate, or cases per 100,000 people.
Le taux d'incidence s'élève ce soir à 61,9 (72,3 avec l'estimation en appliquant la correction du jour férié*). #Covid19
1/4 ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/IzpstkB4US
— Nicolas Berrod (@nicolasberrod) November 5, 2021
Case numbers stand at an average of just over 5,000 new cases per day and a previous relaxation of mask rules in primary schools has been reversed in many areas.
It is thought Macron’s speech could concern booster shots for the Covid vaccine. At present booster are only open to certain groups of vulnerable patients and are voluntary; the government could extend the booster shot programme to everyone and could also link the third dose to the health pass, making it necessary to access venues like bars and cafés.
On Friday health pass legislation was extended until July 2022, after MPs overturned efforts by the Senate to limit the extension.
The Local will be reporting live on Macron’s speech on Tuesday.
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