As France prepares to enter its third week of confinement the Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe, has warned that ‘the fight has only just begun’. Coronavirus has claimed 2,606 French lives to date, but at a press conference on Saturday evening Philippe said: ‘The first 15 days of April will be even more difficult than the last 15 days.’
Earlier in the week Philippe had praised the resolve of the vast majority for respecting the lockdown, and he urged France to hold the course while announcing that the confinement will continue until at least April 15. ‘This struggle will last,’ he said. ‘We will only win by being disciplined and observing lockdown measures.’
But how long can the French hold out? In Italy there are reports that some people are close to breaking point after three weeks of house arrest. Coronavirus has not swept through France with anywhere near the same lethality as it has in Spain and Italy, and healthy young people are likely to start challenging the legitimacy of their confinement, especially when the vast majority of the victims in France are over the age of 65.
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