A French MP says there is “no doubt" that the COVID-19 infection rate will rise as France relaxes rules on its lockdown.
Bruno Bonnell, from Emmanuel Macron’s ruling La République En Marche, said it was a case of trying to balance the needs of the economy with public safety, but admitted the new situation was a “risk.”
France is lifting lockdown restrictions in most of the country, but many emergency measures are still in place and masks are now compulsory on public transport.
Bonnell told Good Morning Europe's Rosie Wright that if the infection rate rose above the level of 1.85 - meaning that each person infects 1.85 others with the virus - the country may have to impose a further period of confinement.
He said that it was the job of the state and the media to inform people about the risks, and of people in France to follow the rules to avoid the spread of the virus.
“It’s a balance: We can’t lock the country for (longer), we have to restart the economy but in doing this, we are taking a risk," he said.
“People have to be responsible – not guilty, but responsible – for their own health and for the health of other people, so it’s a very complex trust balance, that we have to start again. [...] This a new era, where people have to learn to live together in a different way.”
