France’s Prime Minister Édouard Philippe has announced that the country will begin to ease out of lockdown on May 11 if indicators are good, saying that keeping the stringent measures in place would mean risking economic collapse.
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.
The PM said the lockdown measures imposed to curb the spread of the virus helped save at least 62,000 lives in a month, according to one study, but keeping it in placed meant risking economic collapse. French people would now have to learn to live with the virus and take precautions to protect themselves, he added.
Philippe insisted that there would be enough protective masks available to meet the country’s needs after the lockdown ended.
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