“We must learn to live with Covid-19”: French PM says lockdown easing over risk of economic collapse
France’s Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has announced that the country will begin to ease its lockdown on May 11, adding that the country has never before faced such a situation – even in wartime.
Speaking in parliament on Tuesday, Philippe said people will need to be cautious as the strict national lockdown ends to avoid setting off a second wave of infections which he said would “strike a weakened hospital fabric” and impose a “re-confinement” that would ruin progress made during the initial restriction period.
He said the country cannot be locked down for “too long” and that France had never experienced a situation that saw shops, schools, cafes, businesses and other public places closed.