President Emmanuel Macron on Friday urged the French to limit visits to elderly people who are most vulnerable to a coronavirus infection as two more people in France died from the disease, taking the total to nine. The number of confirmed infections rose by 154 to 577, according to the Health ministry.
France’s rise in coronavirus infections mirrored a worldwide spike in cases with the World Health Organization (WHO) reporting more than 100,000 infections as the virus wove itself deeper into the daily lives of millions across the globe.
Macron has warned French citizens and residents to prepare for an “inevitable” epidemic. "There is a moment when we all know that ... an epidemic is inevitable," he said.
During a visit to an old aged home Friday, Macron called on the French to limit visits to elderly people. He admitted this could prove "heartbreaking" at times but said the measure was simply one of common sense.
He emphasised that young people should not be visiting the old because "as we know, they (the young) transmit the virus a lot".
Those who died in France so far have been old with pre-existing conditions.
The French president shook up his agenda this week to include a visit to an old age home, where he stressed his government’s commitment to helping those most vulnerable to the disease.
"Our absolute priority is to protect the people who are the most fragile in the face of this virus," Macron said. "The nation is behind our old people.”
EU parliament session moves from Strasbourg to Brussels
Macron’s call came a day after a French lawmaker was hospitalised in intensive care after contracting the COVID-19 infection.
A snack bar worker had also contracted the virus and had been confined to home, while another worker in the lawmakers' dining hall who was suspected of having caught the virus had been hospitalised, the National Assembly said Thursday.
In a sign of the growing concern over the French figures, the EU parliament announced that the venue for next week's session would be switched from Strasbourg in eastern France to the parliament’s second chamber in the Belgian capital, Brussels, which has been closed to the public.
"The situation related to the spread of the infectious disease caused by the novel coronavirus COVID-19 has evolved over the last few days and hours. In particular, new infection clusters have been confirmed and case numbers are rising," Parliament President David Sassoli said in a statement.
"The necessary security conditions are not in place for the usual transfer of the European Parliament to Strasbourg for the plenary session next week," he added.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and REUTERS)
