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French health officials on Saturday reported five more deaths from coronavirus, taking the total death toll to 16 with 949 confirmed cases nationwide. The cases included three in the National Assembly, Frances lower house of parliament.
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At a briefing on Saturday, Jerome Salomon, the head of Frances public health service, said 45 people have been hospitalised in intensive care, six more than when the last summary was issued Friday.
Earlier Saturday, the National Assembly announced a third coronavirus case in Frances lower house of parliament.
The National Assembly did not name the legislator who recently caught the disease, but said the third case was a female parliamentarian.
A legislator from the eastern Alsace region was hospitalised in intensive care on Thursday after contracting the disease and a snack bar worker in the National Assembly building had also caught the virus.
The jump in infections in France mirrored the global trend with the more than 100,000 cases worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
In France, the virus has circulated with greater intensity in some areas, notably the northern Oise and the northeastern Haut-Rhin departments, where schools, nurseries and kindergartens will be shut for two weeks starting Monday.
France has nevertheless maintained its coronavirus alert level at stage 2, since the virus was present in some areas and not across the country. But echoing French President Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Édouard Philippe recognised that France would inevitably move into stage 3 in the coming weeks.
Macron urges limits to visiting elderly
On Friday, Macron urged the French to limit visits to elderly people, who are most vulnerable to a coronavirus infection.
Macron 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 last week to include a visit to an old age home, where he stressed his governments commitment to helping tRead More – Source
