2LT International News

PARIS, France: As new variants of the Covid virus strike France and intensive care units fill up, officials warn that Paris might be locked down again.

Meanwhile, the inability of France to slow covid infections points to their stalled efforts to inoculate their population.

Local media reports that patients needing to be cared for in intensive care units are being flown in special medical airplanes to hospitals in less populated areas of the country.

“If we have to lock down, we will do it,” Jerome Salomon, head of the national health agency, said on BFM television Sunday. “The situation is complex, tense and is worsening in the Paris region.”

Salomon also said that the current 6 P.M. curfew “wasn’t enough” to prevent increased Covid infections in many areas. He voiced particular concern about the spread of the British variant, which has resulted in large numbers of hospitalizations

As an alternative to regional lockdowns, the French government has been imposing nightly curfews, as well as closing restaurants and other businesses.

Yet continued outbreaks of the virus have caused people to question the effectiveness of the government’s Covid policies.

Salomon warned that France now has about 6,300 people in hospital intensive units care due to COVID-19 and other ailments. Yet, the country did not have that many ICU beds prior to the outbreak.

France also has one of the world’s highest death rates from Covid, at 90,315 fatalities.