The mayor of the city of Nice, Christian Estrosi, spoke on the airwaves of France Inter about a potential curfew at 6 PM, instead of 8 PM, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region. This implementation will take effect from January 2.
In an interview with Carine Bécard on France Inter, Christian Estrosi discussed the current state of the pandemic in his region and the measures being considered for the beginning of 2021.
He praised the decisions made by the government following the announcement by Olivier Véran, Minister of Health. The advancement of the curfew does not only affect the PACA region. The Grand Est, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté are also zones with the highest incidence and hospitalization rates in France.
“There was a choice between re-confining, which was the choice to punish a vast majority of the population whom I want to pay tribute to, as they behave exemplarily, or conversely, to take the measure of an anticipated curfew.”
Regarding advancing the curfew to 6 PM:
According to Christian Estrosi, an advanced curfew from 8 PM to 6 PM,
“makes things easier for state services, including the national police, the gendarmerie, and the Sentinelle force soldiers, as well as for local authorities with my municipal police because from the moment people can no longer go out from 6 PM, it naturally allows us to control anyone who might want to break the rules.”
[…] We are in a phase with a high incidence rate, but it is also important to note that we have never conducted as many tests.”
He further observes New Year’s Eve in his city of Nice, saying, “During the Christmas holidays, we went from an average of 2,800 tests per day to 5,000 tests.”
The first vaccines have arrived
The other highlight of the day was the confirmation of the launch of the COVID vaccination campaign yesterday for those concerned by the first phase.
The vaccination campaign begins this morning in an anticipated manner in #Nice06 at @CHUdeNice, at the Cimiez hospital, with Pierre-Claude, 82 years old, being the first vaccinated in @villedenice. pic.twitter.com/h9FNMnm6sN
— Christian Estrosi (@cestrosi) December 30, 2020
“This measure must be accompanied by an accelerated vaccination campaign, and so I announce to you this morning on France Inter that here too, the Minister of Health has been fully attentive to us. […] We received the first doses of the vaccine a few hours ago, and starting today in Nice, we are launching the vaccination campaigns in advance.”
In his final words, Christian Estrosi, along with local authorities, intends to be extremely vigilant for this New Year’s Eve.
