Paris makes mask wearing outdoors mandatory at public gatherings

Visitors wear masks to respect the COVID-19 protection rules at a Christmas market on the Place Kleber square in Strasbourg, France November 26, 2021. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

Paris has made the wearing of face masks outside mandatory again at public gatherings as the COVID-19 infection rate in the French capital soars, police said.

The police prefecture said in a statement that masks will have to be worn for gathering in public spaces, at festivals and spectacles, on markets and when standing in line.

French police officers patrol at a Christmas market on the Place Kleber square in Strasbourg, France November 26, 2021. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

(Reporting by Geert De Clercq, Editing by William Maclean)

FILE PHOTO: People wearing protective face masks walk on the Champs Elysees Avenue in Paris, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in France, July 22, 2021. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier