Hospitals in Paris could have up to 90% of intensive care beds taken up with Covid-19 patients as soon as next week. The warning came as France braces for new measures to slow a surge in cases. "It's inevitable," Martin Hirsch, the head of the 39 hospitals in Paris and its suburbs, told the Parisien newspaper. "By around 24 October, there will be a minimum of 800 to 1,000 Covid patients in intensive care, representing 70 to 90 percent of our current capacity," he said.
The prospect puts more pressure on President Emmanuel Macron, who is widely expected to announce tighter restrictions in a prime-time TV interview on Wednesday night.