France steps up efforts to tackle coronavirus outbreak

Amid high risk of coronavirus epidemic, the French government is making efforts to tackle the outbreak with a series of measures including more cash for hospitals, requisition of face mask stocks, gatherings ban and school closure.

Health Minister Olivier Veran announced on Tuesday morning that 260 million euros (290.59 million U.S. dollars) would be allocated to the country's public and private hospitals to help cope with growing cases of infection and better address an eventual epidemic.

"Hospitals in France are ready [for a peak of the virus outbreak]," Veran told BFMTV news television. "We are making sure to provide all the necessary equipment to hospitals and city health professionals."

The minister pledges that between 15 and 20 million additional masks will be available during the week "as the needs arise".

He stressed that at least one hospital in each department should be able to take care of infected people from the detection of the illness to the recovery.

Hours later, President Emmanuel Macron announced that the authorities will requisition all face mask stocks and production in the coming months.

"We will distribute them to health professionals and to French people infected with the coronavirus," Macron said on Twitter.

Since the outbreak of the virus, the French authorities have been urging people to wash hands more often, avoid physical contacts with other people and wear face masks only when really necessary.

The authorities want to make use of the country's strategic stock of 150 million masks wisely by giving priority to health workers and other people in need of this protective equipment, such as patients already infected, their relatives and people living in the most affected regions.

Starting from Monday, face masks are only sold on doctor's prescription. It was reported that prices soared in some communes.

Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Tuesday that his ministry will regulate prices of masks and gels by decree if the abuses were numerous.

At midday, France confirmed the fourth novel coronavirus death. A 92-year-old man died in Morbihan, western France, where a large cluster has emerged, the health ministry said in a statement.

Thirteen new positive cases were detected, taking the tally to 204 cases, it added.

The infected people had either interacted with already known patients or travelled recently to zones of risk.

In l'Oise in the north, the most affected region, 26,000 students are recommended to stay at home until further notice and residents are asked to limit their journeys. In Morbihan, western France, schools are closed until at least March 14, involving 9,000 students.

"These figures are evolving quickly. There could be similar measures taken in the coming days (at other zones) following possible birth of new clusters," National Education and Youth Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer told the TV channel LCI.

Blanquer ruled out a nationwide school shutdown as "it wouldn't make sense to confine everyone, to paralyse the country". "It would be counter-productive," he said.

As the coronavirus cases keep jumping in neighbouring Italy, the government has already recommended nationals to defer unnecessary trips to Lombardy and Veneto. It added that school trips to Italy, the most-affected in Europe, were suspended until further notice.

On Saturday, the government decided to ban all gatherings expected to draw 5,000 people in confined spaces and some events of similar scale in open-air space.

"There is no systematic cancellation of events. There is an assessment at the local level," Health General Director Jerome Salomon explained on Monday.

Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu announced on Tuesday that the government is not planning to cancel all sports events but it was necessary to decide "on a case by case basis" with local authorities to cancel or to reschedule some events.

(CGTN)