Updated May 2nd, 2020 at 15:58 IST

French President Macron says life won't return to normal after lockdown ends on May 11

French President Emmanuel Macron, on May 1 warned that end of the national lockdown would only be the first step in the process of recovery.

Reported by: Riya Baibhawi
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French President Emmanuel Macron on May 1 warned that end of the national lockdown would only be the first step in the process of recovery and that France was looking to completely pull out itself from the situation COVID-10 pandemic had created. France has already started descaling lockdown measures in phases which would be completed on May 11. France has reported 167,346 cases of the virus and 24,594 deaths due to the virus.

Read:  France To Be Divided In Red, Green Zones While Easing COVID-19 Restrictions: PM Philippe

Macron in his speech at the presidential palace said, "May 11 will not be the passage to normal life. There will be a recovery that will need to be reorganised. There will be several phases and May 11 will be one of them". May 1 also marked labour day wherein unions across the territory organized online activities and asked people to bang pans and put banners to mark the occasion.

Red/Green zones

French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe has said that country will be divided into red or green zones as France moved to the next phase of easing restrictions that were imposed to curb the spread of coronavirus. Meanwhile, French PM elaborated that the administrative regions in the country will be assigned either red or green colour depending on the number of new cases in seven days, the capacity of regional intensive care units, local testing and tracing efficiency. 

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In the country’s National Assembly, Philippe said that the red departments will witness the lifting of lockdown in a “more strict form” and French Director-General of Health will present the entire break down of the areas every evening with the results, department by department. In terms of ramping up its testing capacity, French PM said the medical officials are going to test “a lot of asymptomatics” by testing anyone who has COVID-19 symptoms and the ones who came in contact. Philippe noted that if France comes out of its restriction phase and people continue to do as they please, “it will not work”.

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Published May 2nd, 2020 at 15:57 IST