PARIS | French Prime Minister Jean Castex announced Thursday that the wearing of a mask would become compulsory in the whole of the capital, Paris, and could reach other major cities in the country.
• Read also: All developments in the COVID-19 pandemic
“The prefect, after consultation with the mayor (Anne Hidalgo), will extend the wearing of the mask throughout the capital”, an obligation limited until then to a few neighborhoods, said the Prime Minister, while specifying that the measure was still “under study”.
“The question obviously arises for the inner suburbs (close suburbs), given the traffic between these territories”, he added during a press conference devoted to the coronavirus epidemic which “is regaining ground »On French territory.
In Marseille, another large city located in a “red” department (more active circulation of the virus), the prefect of the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur region announced on Tuesday the obligation to wear a mask throughout the city and the closing of bars and restaurants at 11 p.m. throughout the Bouches-du-Rhône.
In Paris as in Marseille, the number of positive cases exceeds the threshold of 50 per 100,000.
The Prime Minister also stressed Thursday that the wearing of a mask could be generalized in other large agglomerations of the 21 departments now placed in the red zone.
“In the 21 departments where the virus is actively circulating, the prefects have enhanced powers (…) and are invited, after consultation with the mayors, to generalize the wearing of masks in public spaces, at least in large urban areas and in big cities, ”he announced.
Paris is considered a risk zone by several countries. The French capital has thus just been added by Belgium to its list of European destinations which are no longer authorized, unless they undergo screening and a period of isolation upon return.