PARIS, March 25 -- Declaring a war against "an invisible enemy," President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday announced an army operation "Resilience" to back the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and support the population.
"We are at war and faced with the peak of the epidemic which is before us, I decided to launch the operation Resilience," Macron said on the sidelines of a visit to a military field hospital in Mulhouse, eastern France, the worst-hit region.
The operation will focus on helping population and supporting public services to cope with the COVID-19 epidemic, in France's mainland and overseas, notably in health, logistics and protection fields, he added.
The president announced that a Mistral amphibious helicopter carrier would be immediately sent to the southern Indian Ocean, and a Diksmuide helicopter carrier would be deployed by April in the Antilles-Guyana area to help transport patients.
"Our military forces are ready and determined," Macron said "We have only one priority: to beat the virus."
"I told you we were in a war, an invisible enemy...When we start a war we engage in it entirely, we mobilize in union," Macron said, in response to those "who would fracture the country."
"We must have only one obsession, to be united to fight the virus," he stressed amid mounting critics over the government's laxity to impose nationwide lockdown to curb the virus circulation.
Among the new batch of counter-coronavirus measures, the head of state pledged "massive" new investment plan for public hospitals.
"A lot has been done, not fast enough, not strong enough. Once this crisis is over, a massive investment plan and an upgrade of the career paths will be put in place for our hospital system," the president promised.
"We are just at the beginning. But we will make it through, because we will not surrender, because we have the strength," he stressed.
As of Wednesday, France has detected 25,233 cases of coronavirus infection, and 1,331 people have died of the virus, Director General of Health Jerome Salomon announced at a daily update of the coronavirus crisis.
In the last 24 hours, 2,933 more people were diagnosed with the COVID-19, which caused 231 more fatalities, as "the epidemic is still rapidly worsening in France," according to the health official.
A total of 11,539 patients were hospitalized, including 2,827 in a serious condition requiring life support, up by 12.4 percent from Tuesday, Salomon said, adding that 3,900 infected individuals were cured and returned home.
Salomon added the tally was based on hospitals' counting, and that authorities would compile data on deaths in retirement homes by next week "to have an overall accurate number of deaths across the country."
According to Frederic Valletoux, president of the French Hospitals Federation, the coronavirus fatalities were "probably higher" than the government's account.
"The increase in the official data is already major, but the absolute numbers would no doubt be effectively much higher if we aggregated what is happening in retirement homes as well as the people who die at home or who are not counted," Valletoux said.
Speaking to France info radio, the hospital chief noted that up to 150 retirements homes out of 700 in Ile-de-France region, a region surrounds the capital Paris, "could already be affected by the COVID-19".
"The crisis will be long. The next few days will be particularly difficult," warned Salomon. "The containment instructions remain the same : stay home."
France has instituted a two-week nationwide lockdown on March 17, and it would likely be extended.
The scientific council, which advises the government on the epidemic crisis, recommended to extend the containment at least until April 28, noting that three weeks were needed to obtain an initial estimate of the impact.
"A successful confinement is the necessary and essential condition to end the epidemic and to avoid as much as possible the saturation of our health system," said Salomon.
"Thanks to the measures taken in March, contacts between individuals have decreased. The possibilities of contagion have since then decreased and we hope it will reduce the number of patients in long term," he added.
Early Wednesday, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe called on citizens to be prepared for "long efforts."
The government would "take all the necessary measures over the long term" to address "a sanitary, economic and social shock," he said after a weekly cabinet meeting.
微软CEO比尔·盖茨的五句至理名言
想过健康生活?从“清洁饮食”开始吧
2020年东京奥运会官网疑似被黑客攻击
国产大飞机C919“总装下线”
熊孩子们的圣诞礼物清单:霉霉、隐身能力、独角兽、恐龙蛋
进军时尚圈?麦当劳挑战时装伸展台
电影审查制度拟入法 偷漏票房、插播广告将被罚款
Binge-watch获评柯林斯词典2015年度热词
坠落、飞翔、赤身裸体、找不到厕所······心理学家解析九大常见梦境
无处不在的“数据驱动”
亚马逊首家实体书店西雅图开业
研究:有女儿的CEO对员工更好
习马会致辞中的典故
各式各样的“效应”
习近平阐述中国梦引用的名句
十三五规划建议8大民生亮点
盘点那些红遍中国的新加坡歌手
天冷吃火锅:食材英文大搜罗
科学家破译大熊猫13种语言密码
手机走神:走路开车不忘看手机
2015全球最繁荣国家 美国跌出前10,中国52
爱沙尼亚政府将为作家发薪水鼓励创作
躲在屏幕背后的“隐形消费者”
双11有人给你“亲密付”吗?
在挪威,texas不只是德克萨斯
卡梅伦脸书头像P假花被抓包 网友争相恶搞玩坏罂粟花
芬兰发布官方“国家表情”
上海迪士尼解密:将诞生全球首个“米奇大街”
先入为主的“詹姆斯·邦德效应”
去完健身房就大吃,这是“自我纵许”
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |