Measures to Stop Spread of Covid-19 Come into force in Paris

Paris: The closure of bars, cafes and fairs and the reduction in the number of people present at sporting events are some of the measures in force as of today in Paris to stop the advance of Covid-19, Prensa Latina publishes.

The French capital and its so-called Little Crown, the neighboring departments of Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne, were declared on Sunday a maximum alert zone for the SARS-Cov-2 coronavirus (causing the disease), a level of risk that only precedes the health emergency, which is why the Parisian Prefecture announced new restrictions the day before.

In the four territories, the swimming pools, except for school and private activities, the gyms and the game and dance halls were also closed, as well as the sale of alcohol from 22:00 local time, and the meetings of more than 10 people on public roads, were prohibited unless authorized.

According to the police prefect Didier Lallement, the stadiums and training grounds will remain open, as long as the number of people does not exceed a thousand, or 50 percent of the capacity, if it does not reach a thousand users.

Unlike bars, cafes, game and dance rooms, and from what was initially planned, restaurants may also remain open, although with a reinforced sanitary protocol, which includes the largest space between customers and the presence of no more than six people together at the tables.

The government had already advanced that in the universities of the cities classified in maximum alert, the halls and amphitheaters will only be able to host half of their capacity.

As is the case in several Western European countries, including neighboring Germany, Belgium and Spain, Covid-19 accelerates its spread in France, where almost 17,000 new cases were confirmed in 24 hours over the weekend, an unprecedented figure since the beginning of the pandemic, on March 1.

Also worrisome are the more than 1,340 active sources of transmission of the virus and the positivity rate in relation to screenings, located at an unprecedented 8.6 percent.

Before Paris and its Little Crown, only the southern city of Marseille and the overseas territory of Guadeloupe had been classified as a high-alert zone.