The government has reported the death of an 87-year-old woman with Covid-19, marking the ninth coronavirus fatality in Monaco since the pandemic began and the sixth since the start of the new year.
The official Covid count on Tuesday 19th January revealed that 28 additional people had tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the total to 1,240.
One of these patients was a young child at the Stella School. As a precautionary measure, the government has chosen to temporary close the entire kindergarten class until Monday 25th January inclusive. It follows news that another kindergarten student had tested positive at the Stella School on Monday, forcing the closure of that separate classroom until Sunday.
Health authorities also reported the death of an 87-year-old patient who had tested positive for Covid-19. The woman marks the ninth resident death related to Covid-19 since the pandemic began, and the sixth since the beginning of the new year.
As of Tuesday, there were 36 people being taken care of at the Princess Grace Hospital Centre. Of those, 16 residents were hospitalised and four residents were being treated in intensive care.
Meanwhile, there were 114 people being followed by the Home Monitoring Centre which supports people with mild symptoms.
Monaco’s Antonio Salvatore has gained a Michelin star for the five-table fine dining restaurant he created less than 12 months ago in the middle of a worldwide pandemic.
Despite criticisms that this year’s Michelin Guide should not go ahead, the adapted 30th annual award ceremony was livestreamed from the Jules Verne restaurant on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower in Paris on Monday.
The awards for the 2021 Michelin Guide for France were based on reviews of restaurants that have spent a large part of the past year completely closed by some of Europe’s strictest lockdown measures. In fact, the guide said its anonymous reviews were squeezed into a six-month period between lockdowns in France.
“It’s an important decision to support the profession despite the context, and maybe even because of the context. It was necessary to maintain these announcements,” Gwendal Poullennec, international director of the guides, said during the ceremony broadcast on Facebook. “It’s an occasion to shine a spotlight on all these talents, to encourage them and to keep restaurant patrons motivated.”
Antonio Salvatore opened his fine dining restaurant in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, telling Monaco Life in September 2020: “A very small number of people in the world were brave enough to open a gastronomic restaurant during Covid, and I was one of them.”
Well it certainly paid off. The intimate five-table restaurant, situated in the basement below its more famous sister-restaurant Rampoldi, was awarded a Michelin star within the first 12 months of opening – an incredible achievement in itself.
La Table d’Antonio Salvatore
Michelin had promised no three-star chefs would be demoted this year because of the health crisis. As a result, Le Louis XV-Alain Ducasse at the Hôtel de Paris and Menton’s Mirazur have both kept their three stars.
Any stars removed were for restaurants that had closed or changed dining concepts.
The year’s only new three-star chef was Alexandre Mazzia for his Marseille restaurant AM, featuring compositions such as algae popcorn, smoked eel and chocolate, and raspberry sorbet with harissa.
Michelin also noted the success of the “culinary jewels” Mazzia has been offering from a food truck during the pandemic, with meal baskets sold for just €24. “The idea is to not be a victim of this lockdown, to keep your head above water and keep the fire alive – it’s like training, even though the game is different,” he told AFP last year.
Michelin also promoted two restaurants to two stars: Helene Darroze’s Marsan in Paris, and La Merise, an Alsatian restaurant near Strasbourg opened by Cedric Deckert and his wife four years ago.
La Table d’Antonio Salvatore was one of five new restaurants to receive their first star in the Côte d’Azur region. The others were Les Agitateurs (Nice), Colette Hôtel Sezz (Saint-Tropez), Louroc – Hôtel Eden Roc (Antibes) and L’or Bleu (Théoule-sur-Mer).
First Michelin starred vegan restaurant
Chef Claire Vallée, head of ONA (Origine non-animale) was awarded the first Michelin star in France for a vegan restaurant. The restaurant, in Arès, Gironde, was established in 2016 through a crowdfunding campaign, helped by honour loans and an ethical bank (La Nef) because traditional banks did not believe in the project. Featuring on her seven-course gourmet menu is, notably, ‘fir, porcini, sake’ and ‘celery, tonka and amber beer’. The chef was also awarded a green star, introduced last year to reward establishments for their eco-responsible approach to food.
Six Michelin restaurants in Monaco
Antonio Salvatore’s award brings the total number of one Michelin star restaurants in Monaco to five. The others are Vistamar, Le Grill, Yoshi and Le Blue Bay. Le Louis XV is the Principality’s only three star restaurant.
Organisers of the 114th Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters are “hopeful” the event will go ahead in April, despite delaying ticket sales for the popular tennis tournament.
The Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, a yearly staple of the spring sporting season in the Principality, is scheduled for 10th to 18th April.
In a statement shared on its social networks, the Monte-Carlo Country Club said the tournament will have “undoubtedly limited public access” this year.
It also said it had to delay the opening of its ticket office because of the “current unfavourable health situation”. Tickets for the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters were due to go on sale on Tuesday 19th January.
Though no new date has been offered, the organisers have said: “We hope to be able to give you more positive news very shortly, and at present encourage you to consult our website and social networks for updated information.”
Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters past champions include Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Fabio Fognini. Winners enjoy prize money in the vicinity of €1 million, and even the runner up pulls in almost €500,000 making it a big draw for top players from around the world.
“We remain hopeful that we can welcome you to the Monte-Carlo Country Club as of 10th April 2021, for the 114th edition of the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters,” concluded the tournament organisers.
The first regatta of the year in the Principality was won by an Italian team captained by Claudia Rossi on the Petite Terrible-Adria Ferries at the Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series.
The Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series ended on Sunday 17th January, and after three tough days of racing, the Petite Terrible-Adria Ferries led by Claudia Rossi took home the top spot.
The weather was not as cooperative as it could have been during the races, but in spite of that, Rossi and her crew handily won two of the five races held over the course of the series.
No stranger to the top three, Yacht Club of Monaco (YCM) member Giangiacomo Serena di Lapigio on his boat G-Spot took the 3rd place. He was five points behind the Swiss team on Jerry who also won the Corinthian amateur category ahead of YCM’s Ludovico Fassitelli on the Junda and Cesare Gabasio on TinnJ70.
A total of 21 teams competed with starts and mark roundings going off virtually without any trouble in all five races.
This race also marked the first one of the season for France of the combined classes of boats.
The next race is scheduled for 4th February where the Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series continues before heading to the grand finale for the 37th Primo Cup-Credit Suisse taking place from 4th to 7th March.
The series has been around since 2013 and has proved to be a popular event with over 350 sailors from around Europe coming to compete each year. Most teams who come set up their winter training bases in the Principality to prepare for the season’s biggest races.
A child from the Petite Section of Stella School in Monaco has tested positive for Covid, forcing a precautionary suspension of the class until the end of the week.
PCR testing is not carried out on young students in Monaco, nor is mask wearing obligatory at school, so the Prince’s government made the decision to close the kindergarten class effective Tuesday 19th January until Sunday 24th January.
The government said in a statement on Monday that the child had contracted the virus in an intra-family setting.
The parents of pupils were contacted immediately by the school’s administration to make them aware of the situation. The case is not prohibiting other classes from carrying on as normal, as the contamination has not been shown in any other classroom.
Teachers and school staff who were in contact with the affected child are being given PCR tests, in accordance with the health protocols in place.
The total number of cases in Monaco since the start of the pandemic sits at 1,212. There are currently 30 patients, 19 of which are residents, being treated at Princess Grace Hospital at the moment, including 10 in intensive care, of which three are residents.
The Automobile Club of Monaco says it has no intention of postponing or cancelling this year’s Monaco Grand Prix, dismissing speculation the event could be scrapped again because of Covid-19.
Construction of the world-famous street circuit is set to begin next month, in time for three major motor sports events that are scheduled to take place in Spring.
But after Formula One confirmed the season opener in Australia will be postponed to November, rumours circulated that officials were reluctant to start work on Monaco’s circuit.
Organisers on Monday denied those suggestions.
“Despite the latest rumours circulating on certain websites and social media, the Automobile Club of Monaco can confirm that the 78th Formula One Monaco Grand Prix will take place from May 20th to 23rd, 2021,” it said on its Facebook page. “The ACM also confirms the 12th Grand Prix de Monaco Historique (April 23rd-25th 2021) and the 4th Monaco E-Prix (May 8th 2021).”
Formula One also dismissed as ‘completely wrong’ speculation at the weekend that races at street circuits were set to be cancelled this season.
“We have set out the details of the revised 2021 calendar and there are no other changes,” a spokesman said.
Formula One’s 2020 season was postponed and then reduced to 17 races, mostly behind closed doors and with street races such as Monaco, Azerbaijan and Singapore cancelled.
The 2021 revised calendar consists of 23 events, subject to approvals by the FIA World Motor Sport Council, local governments and Formula One Group.
