It’s Mum’s 96th birthday. She agreed that’s a pretty impressive accomplishment, once I had reminded her that it was her birthday and how old she was. We’ve made it through the epidemic so far, so that’s another accomplishment. Coming out of lockdown and a second wave, if it comes, will bring other challenges.

I’ve promised we’ll open a good bottle this evening. “Peter [my brother] will have to come and share it,” she said. Another reminder: “He can’t, because we’re locked down because of the virus.”

The memory is going. I’ve given up rehearsing the anti-Covid precautions with her. Even if she remembers them, she ignores them. “You should wash your hands for 20 seconds!” “I don’t know how long 20 seconds is.” “Don’t take your teeth out unless you’ve washed your hands first.” She looks at me like a naughty schoolkid: “You weren’t supposed to see that.”

So both of us staying well means me being extra-careful not to bring the virus into the house. Unpacking the shopping is especially tedious but I expect you all know that by now.

Mum also has macular degeneration, which has been gradually depriving her of her eyesight for over 15 years. Eating is a chore now because she can hardly see what’s on her plate, meaning that she often puts an almost-empty fork to her mouth. She’s too proud to use a spoon.

She has survived my Dad by a bit more than 10 years now. I moved to Champigny so that she could move in. I couldn’t have afforded a two-bedroom home in Paris itself.

Despite her memory and eyesight problems, I think she’s fairly happy here.

It’s an ill wind that blows no good. The fall in air pollution due to lockdown has saved 11,000 lives, the recently established Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (Creca) estimates. Given the epidemic’s death toll, this is a bit of a win-some-lose-some situation but it could lead to more responsible environmental policies after it’s over. Or is that too much to hope?

“Other avoided health impacts include 1.3 million fewer days of work absence, 6,000 fewer new cases of asthma in children, 1,900 avoided emergency room visits due to asthma attacks and 600 fewer preterm births,” Creca tells us, although, as one imagines they have noticed, there’s more win-some-lose-some so far as days off work are concerned.

The study actually puts the number of lives saved as between 7,000 and 21,000.

The reason is a fall of 40% in nitrogen dioxide emissions and of 10% in fine particle emissions. That’s because of drastic cuts in consumption of energy produced by coal and oil burning, as well as a reduction in road traffic.

If I understand the science, fine particle pollution has fallen less than nitrogen dioxide because of agriculture and wood-burning. Another study shows that halving the use of ammonia in farming – which was responsible that bucolic smell that has wafted over Paris at times during lockdown – could reduce early deaths from air pollution in Europe by 20%.

Lockdown has inspired some major cities to adopt more ambitious environmental policies. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has in the past been vilified by the right because of her moves to clear cars from the city centre.

Last year’s transport strikes reportedly changed some right-wing voters’ minds about the virtues of cycling. Maybe lockdown-induced blue skies will convince more people that we can’t go back to breathing filthy air.

The French government has promised 20 million euros to encourage bike riding once lockdown is over. As one of the few people in the world who never learnt to ride a bike, I have mixed feelings about this. It will definitely increase my chances of being mown down by a wannabe Tour de France winner while I’m strolling the city streets.

These photos of empty city streets. Am I the only one to be singularly unimpressed by them?

Didn’t any of you ever go out early in the morning or on public holidays?

I have one vivid memory of riding a bus through the Louvre – the complex not the museum – on my way to work one Christmas morning. Nobody there. But I did see one or two intrepid Japanese tourists elsewhere in the city.

Back to the bad news. France’s GDP fell 5.8% in the first quarter of 2020, the biggest fall since 1949, greater even that the 5.3% decline called by the strikes in the second quarter of 1968. The period includes the first fortnight of lockdown, so this quarter will be equally grim, if not worse.

The eurozone’s GDP has fallen 3.8%.

France’s unemployment rose a record 7.1% in March. Household spending was down 17.9%.

The health state of emergency is set to be extended for another two months.

France’s Covid-19 death toll is now officially 24,087, up 427 in 24 hours. 26,834 Covid-19 patients are in hospital, down 650 in 24 hours, with 4,207 in intensive care, down 180. 48,228 people have been discharged from hospital, 1,342 of them yesterday.