News for the week of March 22-28, 2020:

• Boris Johnson tests positive for coronavirus [spp-timestamp time="00:00:41″]
• An update on the status of Covid-19 around the world. [spp-timestamp time=”00:01:18″]
• A cat tested positive for coronavirus in Belgium. [spp-timestamp time=”00:02:04″]
• Confinement and violence against women. [spp-timestamp time=”00:02:44″]
• Tunisia puts a woman on its banknotes [spp-timestamp time="00:03:10″]
• Switching to daylight saving time.[spp-timestamp time="00:04:00″]
• Explanation of the week's vocabulary [spp-timestamp time=”00:04:41″]

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Transcription

Hello,
 
Welcome to HelloFrench's press review, the podcast that immerses you in the news of the week, to help you improve your French.
 
On the front page for this week of March 22-28, 2020:

• Boris Johnson. First head of state to test positive for coronavirus.
• An update on the situation of Covid-19 around the world.
• A cat tested positive for coronavirus in Belgium.
• Confinement and violence against women: an increase of 32 % in France
• Tunisia puts a woman on its banknotes.
• Daylight saving time will be introduced tonight, March 28-29.

Boris Johnson tested positive for coronavirus on Friday. The British prime minister had [tooltips keyword="delayed" content="to take a long time to do something"] take steps to prevent the [tooltips keyword="epidemic" content="epidemic"] from [tooltips keyword="to spread"]. He is now one of the first leaders to be officially affected by the disease. His symptoms remain [tooltips keyword="light" content="light"]: cough and fever. Confined to his home, he continues to lead the country by video conference to [tooltips keyword="fight" content="to fight"] the crisis. Since the beginning of the crisis, Britain [tooltips keyword="count" content="To identify sth., to count sth."] 578 deaths from Covid-19 and more than 11,500 official cases including Prince Charles. 

Let's continue with an update on the Covid-19 crisis around the world. With over 100,000 cases in the United States, the country has become the most affected nation in the world. In Italy, the center of the crisis in Europe, nearly 1,000 deaths were recorded in 24 hours. The country [tooltips keyword="bat" content="beats (to beat)"] so a [tooltips keyword="sad" content="sad"] record, with a total number of deaths that exceeds 9 100 people. This week new countries have gone into [tooltips keyword="lockdown" content="the lockdown"] total. This is the case of Greece, Ireland, South Africa, Rwanda, Tunisia, Colombia and also India which puts 1.3 billion people in lockdown for three weeks. Today, nearly half of humanity is confined. Never before seen.

A [tooltips keyword="cat" content="cat"] tested positive for coronavirus in Belgium. Infected by his [tooltips keyword="master" content="master"], he would have developed symptoms, says the faculty of veterinary medicine that took care of the [tooltips keyword="pet" content="pet"]. It is therefore a case of contamination from humans to animals. The authorities have clarified that this is an isolated case. The National Council for Animal Welfare recalled that [tooltips keyword="pets" content="pets"] are not vectors of the disease. It hopes to prevent this [tooltips keyword="rumor" content="the gossip"] from continuing to spread. Since the beginning of the epidemic, the SPA, which takes in abandoned animals, has indeed noticed a big boom in animal abandonment. 

With the ban on going out, [tooltips keyword="domestic violence" content="Domestic violence"] have increased by 32 % in one week in France. In Paris, it is even + 36 %. To try to help these women victims of violence, an alert system has been set up in pharmacies. The authorities have invented the code "Masque 19" that women can tell their pharmacist. The latter can then alert the police.

A woman on the [tooltips keyword="bank bills" content="the bank notes"] Tunisian. This Friday the Tunisian central bank has indeed put a new bill in circulation. On the bills of 10 dinars, the equivalent of 3 euros, we now find the portrait of Tawhida Ben Cheikh, first woman [tooltips keyword="doctor" content="doctor"] of the Maghreb. Vice-president of the Tunisian Red Cross, this doctor died in 2010 at the age of 101. This figure was chosen last year to honor Tunisian women in science. A nice way also to salute the work of doctors in this period of health crisis. On the back of the bill, we can observe [tooltips keyword="bijoux" content="the jewel"] and [tooltips keyword="la poterie" content="the pottery"]. These illustrations honor [tooltips keyword="l'artisanat" content="the craft"] of women in Tunisia.

At two o'clock in the morning, it will actually be three o'clock in France. It's the changeover to daylight saving time this night from March 28 to 29. Consequence? One hour less of [tooltips keyword="sleep" content="the sleep"]. However, this is one of the last times that Europeans change the time. In 2018, the European Commission had organized a large online consultation where 84 % of Europeans had voted to end the time change. Each state could then choose by 2021 whether it preferred to stay on summer time or winter time. From March 2021, France should therefore remain on summer time all year round!

Vocabulary of the week

Enrich your French vocabulary, download our list of key words for the week of March 22-28, 2020.

Testing positive	We take a test to detect a substance in our body. When you "test positive", the test has shown that the substance is present in your body. We can be tested positive to a disease, to a drug...
Delay (verb)	To take time to do something, to hang around to do something.
The epidemic	It is a disease that spreads, that spreads.
Spreading the word	To spread, to spread. The disease spreads, it spreads, it affects more people.
The symptom	It is the way in which a disease will show itself, manifest itself in our body. It is thanks to a symptom that we can discover that we have a disease.
Light (adjective)	Not very important, not very heavy, weak.
Being confined	You have to stay at home, not go out.
Containment	The fact of staying locked up at home, of not going out, of staying inside.
Fight (verb)	To fight against something, to oppose something.
Beat (verb)	To have the upper hand over something or someone. To win.
To count (verb)	Counting. Evaluate a number of people, objects, cases...
Sad (adjective)	It's the opposite of happy. It's when a situation or someone is not happy. It is painful, there is sadness.
The record. For example: "Break a record".	This is something that has never been achieved before. This is the "best" performance that has been done to date.
The cat	It is a pet that many people have in their homes. It is a feline.
The master	This is the person who owns a pet.
The pet, the pets / The pet, the pets	It is an animal like a cat, a dog... It has been adopted by a master. It is not wild, it lives with a person.
The banknote	It is money printed on paper. It is a liquid means of payment.
Vector of	When someone or something is a "vector", it causes something, it transmits.
The rumor	Something that is told. We don't know if it's true, there's no proof. It's just gossip.
The boom	It is a sudden growth, an increase that comes all at once.
Abandon/be abandoned	Leaving someone, something or an animal. Not wanting it anymore.
Domestic violence	In a couple, one of the two people hits, beats the other person. One of the people in the couple is therefore violent with the other.
The authorities	It's the government, the people in charge, the people with power.
The Pharmacy	It's a store, a store where you go to get medicine to treat yourself or hygiene products like soap, skin creams...
The code	This is a password.
The portrait	The image of someone, the representation of a person. It can be a drawing, a photo, a painting...
The doctor	He is a doctor. The person who looks after us, who heals us when we are ill.
The jewel	It is a small object that we put on ourselves to decorate: a bracelet, earrings, necklace ... A jewel can be gold, silver ...
The pottery	It is a way of making objects with clay. Generally, a pottery is a dish: a plate, a bowl, a cup...
The craft	It's all the craftsmen. They are people who work with their hands. They have a manual know-how. For example: a shoemaker, a chocolate maker, a heating engineer, a watchmaker...
Sleep	It is the fact of sleeping, when you are lying in a bed. We sleep, we rest.
The consultation	It's when you ask someone or some people for their opinion. You want to know what they think. This consultation will usually help leaders make a decision.