French PM says coronavirus crisis easing but far from over

The coronavirus crisis in France is improving "slowly but surely" and shortages of protective gear such as face masks are easing, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said on Sunday.

But Mr Philippe warned that the country's epidemic was far from over.

Almost 20,000 people have died of Covid-19 in France, the country with the fourth-highest toll.

It has been virtual lockdown for nearly five weeks and is due to start lifting some confinement measures from May 11.

Mr Philippe said that the fall in the number of people in intensive care was a sign that pressures on hospitals were easing.

"The circulation of the virus is weak and contained," he said. "I am saying this with a lot of caution. The virus is under control."

But Mr Philippe said the gradual exit from confinement in May, due to start with the reopening of schools, would allow not people to move around or interact as before, with a vaccine against the virus still far off.

"It won't be a return to normal life," he said.

Mr Philippe said that as France introduced more testing, people with coronavirus would have to stay isolated at home or in hotels provided by the government.

He said the pandemic was a “crisis of a magnitude that we have never experienced”.

"From May 11, we will enter a second phase when we will regain some of our freedom," Mr Philippe said.

The government has not given many details on the pace at which businesses such as cinemas or bars would reopen.

It said that as some stores reopened, people would have to maintain safe distances from each other.

But France will lift its ban on visits to nursing home residents, provided people did not touch their relatives, Health Minister Olivier Veran said.

Elderly people in homes account for nearly 40 per cent of the coronavirus fatalities in France.

The regions of Grand Est and the greater Paris Ile-de-France region have been by far the worst hit by the virus.

But if the lockdown wer not adhered to, most of the country could experience a similar number of infections, Mr Philippe said.