Local
Fire in the Bouches du Rhone - A major fire which was declared in the Bouches du Rhone on Monday afternoon has not been extinguished but has been brought under control. Firefighters are still mobilized in the area where more than 450 hectares have been destroyed.
Nine hundred firefighters are still present to monitor a possible new outbreak. Eight people including six firefighters have suffered minor injuries as residents were evacuated on Monday as a precaution.
The fire service believes the fire started from a road area suggesting it was a human act. Whether the blaze was an "accidental or criminal" fire remains to be determined.
Four people swim back to shore after boat sinks - Four people have had a lucky escape after their 7 metre speedboat began to sink in the Cap des Mèdes in Porquerolles.
The incident occurred around 9:30pm on Monday evening when Cross-Med received an SOS from one of the passengers onboard the boat. After contact was cut between the sea rescue service and the vessel the four passengers managed to swim ashore.
They were taken care of by emergency services and taken back to port. An investigation has been opened into the cause of the incident.
Tourism professionals in a state of shock following decision to cancel Cannes Yachting Festival - Cannes tourism professionals have said that they are in "a state of economic and psychological shock" following the cancellation of the Cannes Yachting Festival.
Christine Welter, president of the hotelier union has in a letter addressed to the prefect of the Alpes Maritimes Bernard Gonzalez expressed the disbelief that organizers went from a situation which complied with sanitary standards with the regional health agency to outright cancellation and has asked for an explanation.
Could Switzerland impose quarantine - Following the announcement that Germany has imposed testing and a quarantine for anyone returning from the Paris region or the Côte d’Azur there are reports that Switzerland could follow suit. Switzerland could well be the next country as it reviews its instructions on travel to France, according to local media.
Free masks to be distributed in Marseille - Marseille will distribute free masks to the entire population. Faced with the resurgence of the virus in the Bouches-du-Rhône. The town hall will begin to distribute free masks to its citizens from next week, announced the First Deputy Benoît Payan. The priority will be "for the most vulnerable, then for the whole population".
In Marseille, laboratories have been overwhelmed by the demand for tests. Faced with the increase in the number of contaminations in the Bouches-du-Rhône, many inhabitants are queueing up in front of laboratories and at the University hospital of Marseille you have to wait up to 5 hours for a test.
National
Scientific Council says that we are entering into the management of a long lasting epidemic - The president of the Scientific Council Jean-François Delfraissy has this morning said on French radio that “the Scientific Council, was not very optimistic of a return to normal life in the short or medium term and that with Covid-19 we have entered into the management of a long lasting epidemic”.
Jean-François Delfraissy went on to explain that we will have to learn to live with the risks associated with Covid-19.
On the other hand, he assures us that in France we will never return to a generalized lockdown. Saying that for “the Scientific Council this is not an option before adding that while politicians decide society wouldn’t accept it”.
French President to meet with council today - Meanwhile one week before the start of the school year, the management of the coronavirus epidemic is more than ever at the heart of the government's concerns here in France with President Emmanuel Macron attending a meeting today with the defense council.
The meeting comes as the director general of Public Assistance Hospitals of Paris Martin Hirsch’s has this morning warned that we must "stop thinking" that the virus has "become mild" insisting that in the Île-de-France, "the number of hospitalized patients is increasing" and the average age of these patients has not decreased. Hirsch added that we must "stop thinking that the behavior of the virus has changed".
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