Tag: France

France could “at any moment” lose control over the spread of the Coronavirus, the government’s COVID-19 scientific council warned Tuesday as official data showed the first rise in intensive care patients since April.

In an opinion prepared for policy-makers, the council warned “the virus has recently been circulating more actively, with an increased loss of distancing and barrier measures” since France emerged from a strict two-month lockdown in May.

“The balance is fragile and we can change course at any time to a less controlled scenario like in Spain, for example,” it said.

And the council warned of a possible “resumption of circulation of the virus at a high level” by autumn 2020, after the August summer holidays.

In the short term, retaining control is largely in the hands of citizens, it said.

The message was underscored by President Emmanuel Macron who urged the French public on Tuesday to remain “vigilant” and continue applying anti-infection measures such as keeping a safe distance from others, regular hand-washing, and wearing masks in public spaces.

Data released by the health department on Monday showed the number of people in intensive care had risen by 13 over the weekend, breaking a downward trend observed since April, when the country was under strict stay-at-home orders to curb the spread of the virus.

Twenty-nine new deaths were reported over the same period, bringing the country’s toll to 30,294.

At the height of the outbreak in April, more than 7,100 people were at one point receiving intensive care in French hospitals, which had 5,000 intensive care beds available when the crisis hit.

The country registered thousands of confirmed new infections last week, prompting some cities and regions to impose local restrictions amid reports of people ignoring social distancing and public mask-wearing guidelines.

‘Probable second wave’

The rate of confirmed infections has exceeded 1,000 per day since late July.

Prime Minister Jean Castex on Monday urged France “not to let down its guard” in order to prevent a new national lockdown.

“We are seeing an increase in the figures for the epidemic which should make us more attentive than ever,” Castex said.

“I call on every French person to remain very vigilant. The fight against the virus depends of course on the state, local communities, institutions, but also on each of us,” he added.

The southern city of Toulouse joined the ranks of local authorities Tuesday taking steps to oblige people to wear masks outdoors in certain situations, on top of the national requirement to cover up in shops and other shared spaces indoors.

The science council said the government’s response to a “probable second wave” of coronavirus infections will have to be different to the first.

It urged the authorities to put in place “prevention plans” for the France’s largest and most densely-populated metropolitan areas, with localised home-confinement strategies to be tightened or loosened in step with epidemic development.

Yonathan Freund, an emergency doctor at Paris’s Pitie-Salpetriere hospital, is among experts to caution against over-reacting.

“The situation in France today does not justify saying there has been a worsening,” he told AFP.

“If there are 1,000 cases per day, it is because the virus is still in circulation, and it is normal,” he said.

And epidemiologist Antoine Flahault said the focus of authorities seems to have shifted from preventing another run on hospital beds – an acceptable risk approach – to suppressing virus circulation to the lowest possible level, or a doctrine of “zero risk”.

France’s coronavirus crisis has sparked a fierce battle in its hallowed champagne industry over this season’s harvest, with producers and growers at loggerheads over how much bubbly should be put into bottles.
The main production houses are demanding a sharp reduction in harvest yields as sales plunge amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Growers say this would decimate their revenues.

Traditionally, both sides negotiate how many grapes are harvested by the hundreds of champagne growers each year, many of whom sell to merchants including big-name brands like Veuve Clicquot or Pommery.

The goal is to limit the risks from poor harvests and drastic price swings that could put many players out of business.

But merchants say they are already loaded with stocks and with revenues hit hard by the crisis they cannot afford to produce more bottles than they can sell.

“The growers want 8,500 kilogrammes per hectare [about 7,600 pounds per acre] and the houses want just 6,000 to 7,000 kilos,” said Bernard Beaulieu, a grower in Mutigny, a village amid rolling vineyards south of Reims, the capital of France’s Champagne region.

With the price per kilo expected to remain relatively strong this year at roughly 6.50 euros, the stakes are high.

“Not having a deal with harvests just a month away, this hasn’t happened since after World War II,” Beaulieu said.

The Union des Maisons de Champagne (UMC) trade body, however, expects to sell 100 million fewer bottles this year, an unheard-of hit that will slash overall sales to 3.3 billion euros ($3.9 billion) — down 34 percent from 2019.

And they say over one billion bottles are currently waiting in champagne cellars, representing several years of potential sales.

The UMC’s director general, David Chatillon, told AFP he would not comment on the dispute before an August 18 meeting of the Champagne Committee, which groups both growers and merchants.

‘Roll of the dice’
Growers are especially furious because this year’s harvest, to begin on August 20, is set to be “exceptionally good, with vines able to yield up to 16,000 kilos per hectare”, Beaulieu said.

Maxime Toubart, head of the SGV grower’s association, accused merchants of putting livelihoods at risk by trying to take advantage of a crisis to reduce storage costs.

“Growers are demanding a yield level that covers 2020 shipments while ensuring survival for vineyards,” Toubart said.

The situation for growers is all the more alarming, he said, since the SGV has not obtained additional payroll tax exemptions from the government to weather the coronavirus slump.

For Yves Couvreur of the FRVIC federation of independent growers, which groups some 400 vineyards that also produce their own champagne, “9,000 kilos per hectare is the limit, we can’t go any lower than that”.

To cope with a crisis that could last “two or three years,” he is pushing for a suspension of uniform harvest yields so that the different players could adapt as they see fit.

“The break-even point isn’t the same for people who sell their grapes, and those who make a living off of their brands,” he said.

Couvreur also wants more leverage against merchants by allowing growers to let their wines mature in cellars longer, up to 18 or even 24 months instead of 15 currently.

“Any proposal that prevents a flooding of the market is good,” he said.

For now, if no deal is reached on yields, the decision will be left with France’s National Institute of Origin and Quality (INAO), which governs the country’s wine appellations.

“And if that happens, it’s a roll of the dice for both sides,” Beaulieu warned.

Source: AFP

A new phase begins: on the day when many EU nations are lifting coronavirus travel restrictions, The FRANCE 24 Debate host François Picard is in Schoeneck and Deutsche Welle’s Melinda Crane in Sarrebrücken at the common border between France and Germany. There, locals on the French side are still bitter about Berlin’s unilateral decision to erect barriers they hadn’t seen in decades. As Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel now join forces to propose EU-wide stimulus plans, what do citizens want?

France’s digital minister has said its coronavirus contact-tracing app has been downloaded 600,000 times since it became available on Tuesday afternoon.

StopCovid France is designed to prevent a second wave of infections by using smartphone logs to warn users if they have been near someone who later tested positive for the virus.

But a last-minute launch delay led some citizens to download the wrong product.

England has yet to confirm when its own app will roll out nationwide.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock had originally said it would be by 1 June, and then later suggested it would be around the middle of next week.

But the BBC has learned that it is now unlikely to be before 15 June and could be as late as July.

That is in part because of delays in releasing a second version of the software to the Isle of Wight, where it is being trialled.

The update will add symptoms including the loss of taste and smell to a self-diagnosis questionnaire next week, or soon after.

It will also start giving at-risk users a code to enter into a separate website when they book a medical test. This will allow the result, saying whether they tested positive or negative, to be delivered back to them via the app.

Rival models
Both the UK and France have created apps of their own based on a “centralised” design.

By contrast, Latvia, Italy and Switzerland have released apps based on a “decentralised” technology developed by Apple and Google.

Advocates of the centralised approach says it gives epidemiologists more data to analyse, helping them better target the contagion alerts. They are also not limited by rules imposed by the two tech companies, such as a ban on being able to gather location data.

Supporters of the decentralised model say it better protects users’ anonymity and privacy.

StopCovid France’s rollout has caused controversy.

Hundreds of academics signed a letter in April raising concerns that gathered data could be repurposed for mass surveillance purposes.

There was then a row over the government’s refusal to give MPs a vote on the matter, which was only resolved after ministers gave the Senate and National Assembly non-binding votes.

They both ultimately gave the app the green light. And the country’s data privacy watchdog also approved the rollout after carrying out its own review, although it did ask for some changes to the app’s wording.

But questions remain about how many people will voluntarily install it – the more that do so, the better it should work.

Digital Minister Cedric O indicated that he was pleased with the initial uptake.

“As of this morning, 600,000 people managed to download the app, so it’s a very very good start,” he told the TV channel France 2.

“We are very happy with his start, but obviously several million French people need to have it.”

He declined to give an exact target. But he had previously said a publicity campaign would initially focus on city-dwellers – particularly those using public transport, restaurants and supermarkets at peak times – as they were among those most likely to spread Covid-19.

Source: bbc.com

Two weeks of Coronavirus shutdown were enough to hit Air France-KLM with an 815 million-euro ($880 million) first-quarter operating loss, the airline group said on Thursday – predicting demand could take “several years” to recover.

In the month of March there was an “abrupt plunge in revenue that will obviously extend through the second quarter,” Chief Financial Officer Frederic Gagey warned.

Many major airlines have sought government help as they struggle to slash costs and conserve cash in response to the unprecedented global crisis.

Air France-KLM, which has received 7 billion euros in French-backed rescue aid and Dutch pledges for a further 2 billion to 4 billion, expects to reduce monthly cash burn to 400 million euros in the second quarter thanks to cost-cutting and state-funded furloughs that save 350 million euros a month.

But operating losses will widen “significantly” in April-June with 95% of flights expected to remain grounded by a combination of travel restrictions designed to contain the pandemic and collapsed demand.

Capacity will still be down 80% in the third quarter, the group predicted, with customers returning only gradually.

Airline group expects full-year loss

Air France-KLM’s revenue fell 15.5% to 5.02 billion euros in the first quarter. Its net loss widened to 1.8 billion euros from 324 million, also swollen by a 455 million-euro impact from over-hedged fuel.

While the initial virus outbreak in China impacted Asia traffic early in the quarter, the full effect of European lockdowns and travel bans was not felt until the second half of March.

The group now expects a full-year loss in operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) – the first in its history, CFO Gagey said.

Demand is “not expected to recover to pre-crisis levels before several years,” the company also warned.

Formally withdrawing its pre-crisis 2020 guidance, Air France-KLM said it now planned to reduce its aircraft fleet by 20% in 2021. Chief Executive Ben Smith will present an updated “transformation plan” to investors within months, it said.

Source: reuters.com

France could allow religious services to resume earlier than planned if the easing of the lockdown this month does not result in an increase in the infection rate of coronavirus.

France is set to ease its lockdown on 11 May but it had been indicated that religious ceremonies would still be banned until at least 2 June.

The Christian holy day of Pentecost, celebrated 50 days after Easter Sunday, falls on 1 June

Source: bbc.com

A patient diagnosed with pneumonia near Paris on 27 December actually had the coronavirus, his doctor has said.

This means the virus may have arrived in Europe almost a month earlier than previously thought.

Dr. Yves Cohen said a swab taken at the time was recently tested and came back positive for Covid-19.

The patient, who has since fully recovered, said he had no idea where he caught the virus as he had not been to any infected areas.

Knowing who was the first case is key to understanding how the virus spread.

What do we know about the new case? Dr Cohen, head of emergency medicine at Avicenne and Jean-Verdier hospitals near Paris, said the patient was a 43-year-old man from Bobigny, north-east of Paris.

He told the BBC’s Newsday program that the patient must have been infected between 14 and 22 December, as coronavirus symptoms take between five and 14 days to appear.

He was admitted to hospital on 27 December exhibiting what later became to be known as the main coronavirus symptoms, including a dry cough, a fever and trouble breathing.

This was four days before the World Health Organization’s China country office was informed of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause being detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

The patient, Amirouche Hammar,told French broadcaster BFMTV that he had not travelled before falling sick.

Dr Cohen said two of the patient’s children had also fallen ill but that his wife had not shown any symptoms. But Dr Cohen pointed out that the patient’s wife worked at a supermarket near Charles de Gaulle airport and could have come into contact with people who had recently arrived from China.

The patient’s wife said that “often customers would come directly from the airport, still carrying their suitcases”.

“We’re wondering whether she was asymptomatic,” Dr Cohen said. He called for the potential link to be investigated further.

What does it tell us?

Could coronavirus have been circulating in Europe in late 2019, many weeks before it was officially recognised and declared a threat there? That is the suggestion being made after a French doctor has revealed that he treated a patient in Paris with all of the symptoms of coronavirus just after Christmas.

How does this change what we know about the pandemic? It might be that the test result is an error and so does not change a thing.

But it if is correct, it could mean spread of the disease was going unchecked in Europe while all eyes were on the East in Wuhan.

Certainly, any laboratories in Europe with samples from patients sick with similar symptoms around that time might want to run a test for coronavirus to see what it reveals so that we can learn more about this new disease.

Why does it matter?

Until now, what were thought to have been the country’s first three cases of coronavirus were confirmed on 24 January.

Of those, two had been to Wuhan – where the outbreak was first detected – and the third was a close family member.

This positive test result suggests the virus was present in France much earlier and will change the understanding of how it spread.

“This case will allow us to better understand the evolution of the virus on French soil,” Dr Cohen told the BBC.

Rowland Kao, a professor of veterinary epidemiology and data science at the University of Edinburgh, said that if confirmed, this case highlighted the speed at which an infection starting in a seemingly remote part of the world could quickly seed infections elsewhere.

“It means that the lead time we have for assessment and decision-making can be very short, emphasising the need for preparedness, planning and rapid global communication of disease threats,” Prof Kao said.

Jonathan Ball, professor of molecular virology at the University of Nottingham, urged further research: “Sequencing any virus in the sample might give you insight into whether or not the virus truly was an early isolate or likely contamination.”

Prof Ball said that sequencing the virus could be prove difficult, however, as it looked from the data that the amount of virus in the sample was low.

The first human-to-human transmission within Europe had until now thought to have been a German man who was infected by a Chinese colleague who visited Germany between 19 and 22 January.

The United States also recently had to revise its coronavirus timeline. A post-mortem examination carried out in California revealed that the first coronavirus-related death in the country was almost a month earlier than previously thought.

Source: bbc.com

A patient diagnosed with pneumonia near Paris on 27 December actually had the coronavirus, his doctor has said.

Dr Yves Cohen told French media a swab taken at the time was recently tested, and came back positive for Covid-19.

The patient, who has since fully recovered, said he had no idea where he caught the virus as he had not been to any infected areas.

This news means the virus may have arrived in France almost a month earlier than previously thought.

What do we know about the new case?

Dr Cohen, head of emergency medicine at Avicenne and Jean-Verdier hospitals near Paris, said the patient was a 43-year-old man from Bobigny, north-east of Paris.

He was exhibiting what later became to be known as the main symptoms of coronavirus, including a dry cough, a fever and trouble breathing.

He was admitted to hospital on 27 December, four days before the World Health Organization’s China country office was informed of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause being detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

The French patient told French broadcaster BFMTV that he had not travelled before falling sick.

Dr Cohen said two of the patient’s children had fallen ill but that the wife had not shown any symptoms. But Dr Cohen pointed out that the patient’s wife worked at a supermarket near Charles de Gaulle airport and could have come into contact with people who had recently arrived from China.

The patient’s wife said that “often customers would come directly from the airport, still carrying their suitcases”.

“We’re wondering whether she was asymptomatic,” Dr Cohen said. He called for the potential link to be investigated further.

Why does it matter?

Until now, the country’s first three cases of coronavirus were confirmed on 24 January.

Of those, two had been to Wuhan – where the outbreak was first detected – and the third was a close family member.

This positive test result suggests the virus was present in France much earlier and will change the understanding of how it spread.

The first human-to-human transmission within Europe had until now thought to have been a German man who was infected by a Chinese colleague who visited Germany between 19 and 22 January.

The United States also recently had to revise its coronavirus timeline. A post-mortem examination carried out in California revealed that the first coronavirus-related death in the US was almost a month earlier than previously thought.

How was the new case found?

Dr Cohen told BFMTV that he recently went over the files of patients admitted with flu-like symptoms in December and January.

In total he tested the swabs of 14 patients, he said.

“We re-tested the nasal swabs which were conducted at the time in relation to another diagnosis, to try and find traces of coronavirus,” he said.

“Out of 14 patients, one tested positive. We tested it two more times to make sure there was no mistake. And twice, it came back positive.”

Dr Cohen said he had alerted the National Health Agency (ARS), and was urging other virologists to re-test swabs in their hospitals for Covid-19.

A full report is due later this week, and will be published by the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, he added.

Source: bbc.com

France will make face masks compulsory on public transport and in secondary schools when it starts easing its coronavirus lockdown on 11 May, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has said.

Schools will resume classes gradually, starting with kindergartens and primary schools.

Middle schools in districts with milder outbreaks may follow from 18 May, and high schools at the end of the month.

Shops and markets will also reopen from 11 May, but not bars and restaurants.

Stores will have the right to ask shoppers to wear masks, and should ensure they remain a metre (3ft) apart, the prime minister said.

Face masks will also be compulsory in school for children aged over 11.

In a relief to many, the French will be able to go outside again without a certificate confirming their intentions, and public gatherings of up to 10 people will be allowed. Cr̬ches will also reopen Рbut with a maximum of 10 children in each group.

France has suffered one of the highest Covid-19 death rates in Europe, along with the UK, Italy and Spain.

On Tuesday the number of people who have died with the virus rose by 367 to 23,660, the country’s health ministry said. Some 129,859 people have been infected.

Hospital admissions and the number of patients in intensive care have been falling, however, giving cause for cautious optimism.

Addressing parliament, Mr Philippe said the lockdown had saved an estimated 62,000 lives in France in a month, but that it was time to ease measures to avoid an economic collapse.

“We will have to learn to live with the virus,” he said, until a vaccine or effective treatment is available.

He summed up France’s priorities as “protect, test, isolate”.

Parliament was scheduled to vote on the government’s proposed measures after a debate. Only 75 of almost 600 French MPs were allowed into the chamber for reasons of social distancing, with others voting by proxy.

Will the lockdown definitely be lifted? Mr Philippe stressed that France must take strict precautions to avoid a second wave of coronavirus infections.

“The risk of a second wave, which would strike a weakened hospital fabric, which would impose a ‘re-confinement’, which would ruin the efforts and sacrifices made during these eight weeks, is a serious risk,” he said.

The lockdown will not be eased on 11 May if new cases don’t stay below 3,000 a day, he added.

France has seen about 2,162 new cases a day on average over the past two weeks.

The government has set a target to carry out at least 700,000 coronavirus tests per week from 11 May, the prime minister said, and will cover the cost of testing.

“Once a person has tested positive, we will begin to identify and test all those, symptomatic or not, who have had close contact with them. All these contact cases will be tested and will be asked to isolate themselves,” he said.

Mr Philippe said that where possible, people should keep working from home beyond 11 May

Source: bbc.com

The number of people in France who have died from the coronavirus has now risen above 10,000.

Latest figures show 10,238 people died from the virus since 1 March. In the past 24 hours, 607 deaths have been recorded in hospitals.

A further 820 deaths were recorded in nursing homes. However, they may have taken place over several days and are only now being added to the toll.

France has been under lockdown since 15 March, with fines for violations.

On Tuesday, Paris said it would ban people from exercising outdoors between 10:00 and 19:00 local time.

The new restriction came after a sunny weekend marked by large groups of people running and walking in the city’s parks, despite police controls.

In the last 24 hours, 607 people died in French hospitals – almost exactly the same number as in the previous 24 hours – and 820 deaths were reported from care homes. However, this last figure is difficult to assess because it probably includes deaths that took place over the weekend or in care homes that have only now been able to provide their figures.

The epidemic is still in its “upward phase,” Director of Health Jérôme Salomon said, with the number of daily deaths, hospitalisations and critical cases still going up. “The peak has not been reached,” he said.

However, there are signs that the rate of growth is slowing. The number of critical cases was up only 59 on the previous day, because the rise in new cases (518) was largely compensated by people coming off the critical list.

Doctors have expressed cautious hope that the worst scenario – of hospitals being overwhelmed – has been avoided.

But Mr Salomon said that talk of ending confinement was premature. “Letting off the pressure now would be dangerous,” he said, echoing Prime Minister Édouard Philippe, who earlier said that national quarantine was “going to last”.

There is widespread expectation that the government will extend confinement beyond the current end date of 15 April.

Earlier on Tuesday, French President, Emmanuel Macron visited the Paris suburb of St Denis, one of the worst-affected areas in the country.

It is the poorest administrative department in urban France, and the number of deaths rose by 63% in the last two weeks of March. The reasons are unclear.

Source: bbc.com

France recorded 471 new coronavirus hospital deaths and 884 deaths in retirement homes, the country’s chief medical adviser told a press conference on Thursday.

France’s Director General of Health, Jérôme Salomon, announced the figures during a daily press conference making for the first time a distinction between deaths recorded in hospitals and those in retirement homes.

He said that a provisional tally showed that around 884 people in total had died in nursing homes.

He added that the number of coronavirus-related deaths in hospitals rose 12 percent on Thursday to 4,503 from Wednesday.

This makes for a total of 5,387 lives lost to coronavirus in France, so far.

Salomon cautioned that coronavirus deaths in retirement homes could turn out to be higher than the reported number, as authorities were still gathering data from across the country.

Salomon said that the number of known infections rose nationwide to 59,105 from 56,989. The number of patients requiring life support rose to 6,399 from 6,017 on Wednesday.

In a televised interview on TF1 Thursday night, Prime Minister Édouard Philippe urged the French to continue to comply with mandatory lockdown measures imposed since March 17, to ensure a levelling off of new cases of the virus. He conceded these measures “would probably be extended” beyond the current deadline of April 15.

According to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center, the global death toll from the virus on Thursday topped 50,000 with total infections surpassing one million.

Source: France24

The new coronavirus killed an additional 499 people in France on Tuesday as it continues to take a devastating toll on the country, said the health authorities.

The death toll surged to 3,523 and a total of 52,128 cases of infection were recorded, according to the Health Ministry.

The French National Assembly observed a moment of silence midday for all those who perished in the pandemic.

In the morning hours, President Emmanuel Macron visited a factory producing medical masks to both show support and announce an additional €4 billion ($4.4 billion) to fund the production of masks, respirators, and supplies.

The production of masks will reach 15 million per week by end of April, Macron promised.

The factory Macron visited, PME Kolmi-Hopen, is the largest of four companies in France producing surgical and filtering face masks. They are operating round-the-clock to meet the demand.

An Air France cargo plane also landed at Paris-Vatry Airport on Tuesday carrying 10 million masks purchased from China for nationwide use. Additional medical supplies were also on board.

After first appearing in Wuhan, China, last December, the virus has spread to at least 179 countries and regions, according to the U.S-based Johns Hopkins University database.

More than 826,000 cases of coronavirus have been reported worldwide, with the death toll over 40,700 and over 174,000 recoveries.

Despite the severity of the virus, most people experience mild symptoms and recover in due time.

Source: www.aa.com.tr

France on Saturday drastically stepped up its measures against the spread of the coronavirus, announcing the closure of all non-essential public places including restaurants and cafes from midnight (2300 GMT).

“I have decided on the closure until further notice from midnight of places that receive the public that are non-essential to the life of the country,” Prime Minister Edouard Philippe told reporters.

“This includes notably cafes, restaurants, cinemas and discos.”

Top health official Jerome Salomon meanwhile announced that the death toll from COVID-19 had risen by 12 over the last day in France to 91, with the total number of infected standing at 4,500.

Salomon added that France was from now at its highest sanitary alert level of stage three, which means that the virus is now circulating actively across French territory.

He added that the number of those infected had doubled over the last 72 hours.

Philippe said that the new measures were being adopted after the first measures announced in France to fight the virus were “imperfectly applied”.

Places of worship would stay open but all services and ceremonies would have to be postponed, he said.

Shops would also have to close with the exception of essential services like supermarkets and pharmacies, he added.

Public transport would continue to run, but Philippe urged the French to “limit their movements” and avoid inter-city travel.

But he insisted that despite the strict new rules, the first round of local elections would go ahead as planned on Sunday while “respecting strictly the guidelines of distancing”.

“I know the French will show their calm, their civic mentality and their ability to obey the rules we have set out for their own security,” Philippe said.

Later Saturday, the tiny principality of Monaco, which lies on the Mediterranean coast and borders France, announced similar measures.

Non-essential public spaces would be closed until further notice, said a government statement. Food markets, pharmacies, petrol stations and banks would remain open.

Source: France24

France goes to the polls Sunday in nationwide local elections, defying a mounting health crisis caused by the coronavirus outbreak that still risks keeping many voters at home.

President Emmanuel Macron, for whom the two-round polls are a crucial mid-term test, has insisted that the polls to elect mayors and municipal councils must go ahead to assure democratic continuity in the country.

And despite fresh restrictions announced Saturday evening, including the closure of non-essential public places such as cafes, restaurants, cinemas and gyms, the elections will go ahead.

Officials have insisted that voting will take place under the tightest sanitary conditions, despite widespread fear that polling stations are ideal germ-spreading venues and a particular risk for older people.

The president said Thursday that scientists had assured him “there is nothing to prevent the French, even the most vulnerable, from going to the ballot box”, provided everyone observes basic infection-prevention rules.

Municipalities have announced various measures to try and keep voters infection-free, including regular disinfection of voting booths, ensuring a safe personal distance between voters waiting in line, and providing sanitising hand gels on entry and exit.

A second round is also due on March 22.

– ‘Continuity of democratic life’ –

But observers say many are bound to shun the democratic exercise for fear of contamination with the novel virus that has killed dozens and infected thousands more in France alone.

A recent opinion poll said 28 percent of potential voters in France were “concerned” about the risk posed by mingling at polling stations, often hosted by schools.

“It is important at this time, following the advice of scientists as we have done, to ensure the continuity of our democratic life and that of our institutions,” Macron said.

Some 47.7 million people are registered to vote in some 35,000 municipalities in a country where mayors and local councillors enjoy high popularity compared to other levels of government.

The election will be a key test for Macron, whose party swept Paris in the 2017 presidential election, but has since lost popularity in part due to its leader’s perceived autocratic leadership style and lack of common touch.

The French capital will be the main battleground, with incumbent socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo challenged by right-wing heavyweight Rachida Dati and Macron’s candidate Agnes Buzyn — who was parachuted in after his chosen hopeful, Benjamin Griveaux, pulled out over a sex-tape scandal.

– ‘Many will be dissuaded’ –

Many in France have questioned the wisdom of holding the vote even as the country indefinitely closed all creches, schools and universities, banned gatherings of more than 100 people, and urged residents to limit their movements.

Britain on Friday postponed its own May local elections for a year citing the coronavirus.

But French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner defended his government’s decision, saying there were about 1,000 voters to every French polling station on average.

And even if the participation rate is 60 percent — which is high — that would mean 600 people spread over 10 to 12 hours depending on the district.

The risk from voting for the elderly was no greater “than going shopping”, insisted Jean-Francois Delfraissy, chairman of France’s coronavirus science council.

“It is certain that many people will be dissuaded from voting,” political historian Jean Garrigues of the University of Orleans told AFP.

Polls showed that young people — who are not at high risk of dying from COVID-19 — are most likely to hold it up as a reason not to vote.

Even if this is just a pretext for the politically apathetic, it could impact parties that young people are more likely to support — the Greens and the far-left France Unbowed, said Garrigues.

Older people, even though they are more motivated to vote, may end up staying away out of fear, thus robbing parties such as the right-wing Republicans or Macron’s centre-right Republic on the Move (LREM) of votes.

This means that the political repercussions of high voter abstention among the young and the old could cancel each other out, said Garrigues.

Source: France24