The announced 11 May deadline, on which France's lockdown will be lifted, is "a target date" that "still has to be conquered," said French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner on Tuesday.
On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France will extend its lockdown until 11 May, after which there will be a gradual deconfinement, he said. However, the prospect of 11 May is "still a date to be conquered by respect for containment," said Castaner.
"11 May is a target date," Castaner said. "What the President of the Republic announced yesterday is not the deconfinement from 11 May, it is the confinement until 11 May," he stressed, reminding the French that "discipline" must prevail.
"11 May is a date that we still have to conquer by respecting the confinement," he said, adding that the French cannot just start doing as they please from 12 May. "We will have to continue to fight," he added.
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Since the containment measures were introduced in mid-March, 11.8 million checks have been carried out by the police and 704,000 offences have been recorded throughout France, according to Castaner.
The subject of protection provided to law enforcement agencies caused a fierce controversy in the country, but 3.6 million masks have already been distributed to police and gendarmes, according to Castaner.
"Fourteen million will be distributed between now and 26 April, and, as I speak, nearly 40 million masks have been ordered. But it is not a question of wearing masks all the time, and especially not surgical or FFP2 masks, which I remind you we must mobilise for health workers," he stressed.
The Brussels Times
