French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said a lockdown imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus has saved tens of thousands of lives but that it was time to ease the restrictions to stave off economic collapse.
The death toll in France passed 23,000 today, the world's fourth highest behind the United States, Italy and Spain. But the government is now looking to take advantage of falling infection rates to rescue a free-falling economy, though Mr Philippe said the French people would have to adapt to a new way of living. "We are going to have to learn to live with the virus," Mr Philippe told parliament today as he began outlining measures to gradually ease the lockdown.
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