COVID-19 pandemic in France

[4][5][6][7] A key event in the spread of the disease across metropolitan France as well as its overseas territories was the annual assembly of the Christian Open Door Church between 17 and 24 February 2020 in Mulhouse which was attended by about 2,500 people, at least half of whom are believed to have contracted the virus.

[21] On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan, Hubei, China, who had initially come to the attention of the WHO on 31 December 2019.

[31] On the same day that Agnès Buzyn said that "The risks of propagation of the virus in France are extremely low",[32] two more cases were confirmed in Paris – a couple who had returned from China on 18 January 2020.

[45] On 18 February 2020, Minister of Health, Olivier Véran – who replaced Agnès Buzyn after she stood down to run in the Paris mayoral election for La République En Marche!

[50] On 25 February 2020, a French teacher from Crépy-en-Valois died;[51] on the same day, a Chinese man who had returned from China was confirmed as a carrier of SARS-CoV-2, but showed signs of recent recovery.

Linked cases developed from early March in Orléans, Besançon, Saint-Lô, Belfort, Dijon, Mâcon, Agen, Briançon, Paris, Corsica, and French Guiana.

[70][71][72] Starting on the evening of 3 March 2020, the local helpline of the Emergency medical services recorded an unprecedented flood of distress calls, from people who had attended the gathering.

[80][81][82] A second wave of repatriation took place on 2 February 2020 when 65 evacuated French nationals on board a chartered Airbus A380-800 Hi Fly Malta landed at the Istres air base.

[88] The first round of municipal elections in France took place on 15 March 2020 against the backdrop of the government decision to move to Stage III of measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

The decision to press ahead with the election was justified as being critical to democratic life in the country, despite concerns about how a second round could be held as the toll of infections and deaths continued to rise.

[89] A number of communes in various parts of the country reported that despite the safety measures put in place by the government, some candidates and assessors had subsequently developed symptoms or tested positive for the virus.

President Macron announced in an interview on prime-time television on 14 October 2020 that in view of the vertiginous spread of the disease in several major cities, there would be 9 pm–6am curfews imposed in areas which have become hotspots for the virus in the country, to last for 4 weeks; the financial aid measures and furloughing scheme for affected business would be re-introduced.

[101] On 22 October 2020, Prime Minister of France Jean Castex extended the overnight curfew to 38 more departments as cases surged, affecting 46 million people (67% population).

[104] On 12 November 2020, French Prime Minister Jean Castex said in a press conference that any loosening of restrictions at the start of December would be "strictly limited", meaning businesses like restaurants, bars and sports halls would remain closed.

[109] On 29 April, President Macron announced dates for the easing of restrictions from the third national lockdown: On 2 December, the first confirmed case of the Omicron variant in France have been reported.

In Aisne and Pas-de-Calais, spared by the epidemic until 1 March, the authorities confirmed the presence of patients with COVID-19, except the Nord where hospitalisations without local infections had taken place.

After about 40 crew members aboard the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle showed symptoms, the ship cut short its mission and returned to its home port of Toulon on 12 April 2020, 11 days earlier than planned.

[220] The following day, the Paris half marathon scheduled for Sunday 1 March 2020, with 44,000 participants was cancelled as one of a number of measures announced by health minister Olivier Véran (which also included the banning of all indoor public gatherings of more than 5,000 people).

[229] Acceptable reasons for being outside included: shopping for food and essential needs, traveling to and from a place of work, if the work could not be performed at home, accessing necessary healthcare, traveling for essential family matters including childcare or care of the elderly or to assist vulnerable people, exercising within 1 km of the home for up to 1 hour during permitted hours, for an administrative legal matter (such as a summons), or at the direction of an administrative authority.

Police report receiving hundreds of telephone denunciations from citizens complaining of their neighbours walking their dogs too often; a woman also denounced her husband for going out to see his mistress.

[230] On 28 September 2020, according to an Amnesty International report French authorities wrongly punished thousands of peaceful protesters under draconian laws in pre and post COVID-19 crackdowns.

[236] The French state, which has hitherto borne 100% of the costs of furloughing, reduced the indemnity to 85% from 1 June 2020, with businesses footing 15% of the bill; employees will receive 70% of their gross pay, or around 84% of their net salary.

Employees in sectors of activity related to restaurants, culture and tourism, which remain subject to forced closure, continue to receive 100% state indemnity.

[250] On 3 March, with France still facing a shortage, President Macron commandeered all masks produced and stored in the country for distribution to health professionals and people who had contracted the virus.

On 5 March 2020, French authorities confiscated four million masks from the Swedish health care company Mölnlycke, which were in a distribution centre in Lyon and destined for Spain and Italy.

[255] On 17 March 2020, Didier Raoult of the Mediterranean infectious and tropical disease institute in Marseille and member of the scientific council advising the government announced in a YouTube video entitled "Coronavirus: endgame!"

[259] The French Health Minister, Olivier Véran, announced that "new tests will now go ahead to evaluate the results of Raoult, to independently replicate the trials and ensure the findings are scientifically robust, before any possible decision might be made to roll any treatment out to the wider public".

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian summoned the Chinese ambassador, and said that the remarks were not in line with the "quality of the bilateral relationship" between France and China.

[267] (Source: official daily statistics from Minister of Health[268]) Deaths from retirement homes (EHPAD) and assisted living facilities March to June 2020.

Apart from the Petite Couronne,[269] cases have been detected either by a late discovery[clarification needed] or by a local infection in the following departments: Gironde,[270] Haute-Savoie,[49] Bas-Rhin,[61] Val-d'Oise,[175] Hérault,[183] Finistère,[165] Lyon Metropolis,[153] Côte-d'Or,[160] Alpes-Maritimes,[193] Seine-Maritime,[179] Loire-Atlantique,[271] Ain,[272] Landes,[67] Charente-Maritime,[273] Mayenne,[192] Ille-et-Vilaine,[274] Morbihan,[163] Haut-Rhin,[170] Eure,[180] Sarthe,[191] Gard,[187] Drôme,[157] Saône-et-Loire,[162] all the departments of the region Hauts-de-France, except the Nord,[275] and in the overseas territories of Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin.