Paris hospitals to slash non-Covid procedures by 40% as ICU admissions rise

Hospitals in the Paris region have been ordered to cut regular surgical and medical procedures by 40 percent as the number of coronavirus patients needing critical care threatens to overwhelm the intensive care unit (ICU) network.

“This is a very tense situation,” Aurelien Rousseau, regional health chief told AFP newswire on Monday.

The Ile-de-France region, which includes the capital Paris, is home to some 12 million people. It currently has 973 Covid-19 patients in ICU beds with a total capacity of 1,050.

Numbers spiked two weeks ago, as between 70 and 80 patients were being admitted daily with only half the number of patients being discharged, making a daily net increase of 35.

“We needed to react very fast,” said Rousseau, who gave “a firm and immediate order” to cancel 40 percent of scheduled hospital care, estimating that the Covid capacity could be exhausted this week.

Juggling vaccines and lockdown worries

Rousseau made the call as the central government is trying to avoid imposing another national lockdown.

Some 21,825 new cases were reported on Sunday in the previous 24 hours, with 130 deaths.

France is trying to bolster the nation by pushing for more people to get the Covid-19 vaccine. Some 585,000 vaccines were given over the weekend, rounding the number of those taking the vaccine to 5.5 million, according to government figures.

France has authorised three vaccines from Pfizer/BioNtech, Moderna and AstraZeneca/Oxford University. A fourth, a single-dose jab by Johnson & Johnson, could be approved by the European Union's medicines regulator by Friday.

Industry Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said on Monday that within a fortnight, weekly vaccine deliveries to France would be in excess of two million doses.

She estimated that 30 million people – two thirds of the French adult population – could be vaccinated by the end of June.

In the northern Pas-de-Calais region, the government has imposed a weekend lockdown in an effort to bring down soaring cases. More than 20 administrative departments, including the Paris region, face the same measure if cases continue to rise.

The government has appealed to people to behave responsibly. Paris authorities introduced a weekend alcohol ban in several streets and along the Seine river.

On Sunday, police evacuated the banks of the Seine after crowds flocked there to enjoy the late winter sunshine.