PM PHILIPPE & MIN OF HEALTH VERAN PROMISE 14.000 BEDS ON TV PRESS BRIEF

USPA NEWS - For the first time, Edouard Philippe the French Prime Minister accompanied by the Minister of health, Olivier Veran and Eric Caumes, Head of Infectiology Unit at Hospital Salpetriere and Jerome Salomon, the Director General of the Minister of Health, gave a press point for television, very didactic by explaining via slides and analyzing graph data to explain to the big controverse the politico-medical approach of the government as well as the strategy. This new and very pedagogical format gives priority to "lucidity, transparency and discipline" as said by the Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, and this type of presentation is in response to the great controversy which continues in France as regards the "management of the COVID-19 crisis ", with a public opinion wondering about the shortages of medical equipment facing the COVID-19 crisis: Masks, gloves and hydro-alcoholic gels, the non disinfection of streets and public places , and the maintenance of certain covered markets. The other controversy concerns hydrochloroquine treatment, by Professor Raoult, used by some hospitals and even the Mayor of the city of Nice, Christian Estrosi, COVID-19 Plus, who applied it to himself ...

HEALTH MINISTER OLIVIER VERAN SAYS THAT HE ORDERED Bn 1 OF MASKS MOSTLY FROM CHINA---------- France has ordered "over a billion" masks, notably from China, to deal with the COVID-19 epidemic, the Minister of Health also said on Saturday. The Minister Olivier Veran explains « A narrow and intensive air bridge between France and China has been set up to facilitate the entry of masks into our territory," said the minister, recalling that France needs 40 million masks per week. The government wants to increase the number of intensive care beds to "over 14,000", compared to 5,000 initially, to cope with the influx of patients caused by the COVID-19 epidemic, said Olivier Veran.--------------------------------- PM Edouard Philippe and medical experts at his side, in particular announced an increase in the number of resuscitation beds to "more than 14,000", this is "the objective" in response to the call for help from the medical teams French, in particular those of the Grand Est region. As for the masks which are in short supply in France, it has continued to create a controversy for several weeks and which swells above all on the part of the medical teams, but also on the part of supermarket cashiers, firefighters, prison guards, and police officers who are in direct contact with people and have a high risk of being contaminated. To this the government responds by the announcement of the Minister of Health to have ordered more than 1 Billion masks around the world and explaining that since everyone orders the same thing at the same time, the delivery times are longer ....

THE FIRST 15 DAYS OF APRIL WILL BE EVEN MORE DIFFICULT THAN THE 15 DAYS THAT JUST PAST------------ In fact, 2314 people died from coronavirus in France and that 4273 people are currently in intensive care, "the fight has only just begun", said the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister who announced yesterday the extension of the confinement by an additional 15 days from Tuesday March 31, warns that: "The first 15 days of April will be even more difficult than the 15 days which have just passed", said Édouard Philippe this Saturday, during an information point for the French held with the Minister of Health Olivier Veran and the Director General of Health Jérôme Salomon. As he used maps and curves of the epidemic, showing the audience, as if was teaching the French citizen, how things are going on, really, Edouard Philippe recalled the two main thrusts of the government's strategy: "increasing our reception capacity in intensive care units" and "flattening the curve" of the spread of the virus and serious cases with home confinement.

PM EDOUARD PHILIPPE RESPONSES TO THE CONTROVERSAL ABOUT DELAY ON CONTAINMENT PM Edouard Philippe, responded to the polemic of « Mismanagement of the crisis" which grows in France on the part of the political op, and even of a part of the medical body. Indeed, a collective complaint signed by 600 doctors and medical experts, against the PM and Edouard Philippe and the ex-Minister of Health Agnes Buzyn received more than 250,000 signatories. Agnes Buzyn being the one who quit on February 14, in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, to replace Benjamin Griveaux, LREM candidate in the Mayoral 2020 elections in Paris) the Prime Minister launched: "When the time comes, we will pull together lessons from the crisis. I am not one of those who discard their responsibilities. Some think they know perfectly what should be done and do not hesitate to criticize after the fact. I leave them this luxury. "----------------------------- "I will not let anyone say that there was a delay in the decision on containment" from March 17, and which was extended until April 15, PM Edouard Philippe said , recalling the side " unpublished for over a century "of this" global epidemic ". "At the time of this containment decision, there were less than 8000 cases on the national territory and less than 200 deaths from the disease. Everyone will be able to appreciate the moments when the (foreign) governments made this decision. But I will not let anyone say that there has been a delay in the decision on containment, said the head of government, Edouard Philippe said.