France braces for coronavirus epidemic, Macron warns

French president Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that the country was preparing for a spike in the number of coronavirus cases.
“We are facing a crisis, an epidemic that is coming,” Macron said adding that “we are going to have to deal with it as best we can”. He made the comment while visiting staff at a hospital in Paris, where the first French person died Tuesday from the virus.
So far, France has reported two deaths. As one of the patients who died had not travelled to an infected zone and had no obvious contact with anyone who had, a hunt has been launched to try and identify the “patient zero”.
“We know that we’re only at the beginning. We’re going to try with all our caretakers to make the right decisions,” Macron said, pledging to address the crisis “truthfully” so that measures can be taken “calmly”.
On Thursday, health minister Olivier Veran also confirmed a sharp rise in coronavirus infections from 18 to 38. “I sometimes feel like I have to pay for many accounts that have not been settled”, Macron said, explaining that his predecessors had neglected the health service for years.
The French government has asked citizens returning from Italy’s Lombardy and Veneto to avoid “all non-essential outings” and keep their children home from school. It has also instructed those returning from China, Singapore, South Korea or Lombardy and Veneto to take their temperature twice a day, wear a mask and avoid all contact with weak and elderly people for 14 days.