COVID-19 Pandemic In France

The COVID-19 pandemic in France has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths.

The virus was confirmed to have reached France on 24 January 2020, when the first COVID-19 case in both Europe and France was identified in Bordeaux. The first five confirmed cases were all individuals who had recently arrived from China. A Chinese tourist who was admitted to hospital in Paris on 28 January 2020, died on 14 February 2020, making it the first COVID-19 death in France as well as the first COVID-19 death outside Asia. 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. On 4 May 2020, retroactive testing of samples in one French hospital showed that a patient was probably already infected with the virus on 27 December 2019, almost a month before the first officially confirmed case.

This was extended twice and ended on 11 May 2020, after a progressive lifting of lockdown and as face masks were made available to all citizens. On 2 May 2020, Health Minister Olivier Véran announced that the government would seek to extend the health emergency period until 24 July 2020. Several mayors opposed the 11 May 2020 lifting of the lockdown, which had been announced by the president a few weeks earlier in a televised address to the nation, saying it was premature. Véran's bill was discussed in Senate on 4 May 2020.

From August 2020, there was an increase in the rate of infection and on 10 October 2020, France set a record number of new infections in a 24-hour period in Europe with 26,896 recorded. The increase caused France to enter a second nationwide lockdown on 28 October 2020. On 15 October 2020, police raided the homes and offices of key government officials, including Véran and Philippe, in a criminal negligence probe opened by the '' Cour de Justice de la République''. According to a team of French epidemiologists, under 5% of the total population of France, or around 2.8 million people, may have been infected with COVID-19. This was believed to have been nearly twice as high in the Île-de-France and Alsace regions.En France, le Covid-19 aurait contaminé moins de 5 % de la population, loin de l'immunité collective
13 May 2020 ''Le Monde''. Retrieved 15 May 2020

On 31 March 2021, Macron announced a third national lockdown which commenced on 3 April 2021 and which was mandated for all of April 2021; measures included the closure of non-essential shops, the suspension of school attendance, a ban on domestic travel and a nationwide curfew from 7pm-6am.

In February 2022, it was reported that no tests are required to enter the country, and children under the age of 12 are free from vaccination requirements.

Background

The pandemic occurred following a series of national protests, which were followed by a strike against pension reform which had been proposed by President Emmanuel Macron in his election manifesto. The pension reform strike was the longest strike in modern French history. In President Emmanuel Macron's second address to the nation on the pandemic on 16 March 2020, he announced the suspension of all reforms, notably those of pensions.

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. On 21 January 2020, Agnès Buzyn, Minister of Solidarity and Health declared that "The risk of introduction into France is low but it cannot be excluded".

Timeline

December 2019 – March 2020: First cases to lockdown

First cases

On 2 December 2019, a man was admitted to Hôpital Albert Schweitzer (Colmar); on 7 May 2020, the director of the medical imagery department claimed that the man had been positive for COVID-19 in December 2019. It is possible the sample was contaminated. His thoracic scan, taken in December 2019, was one of several suspicious scans identified by the hospital as being typical of COVID-19, the earliest of these suspicious scans having been on 16 November 2019.

On 27 December 2019, a man was admitted to Avicenne Hospital and tested for influenza, which came back as negative. On 3 May 2020, Yves Cohen, head of resuscitation at the hospital, said that following a retest of the man's December sample, it had come back positive for COVID-19. Cohen said it was too early to know if the man had been France's "patient zero".

On 23 January 2020, the French Minister of Health's office published an analysis of the situation, and on the same day Air France suspended its flights from and to Wuhan, and reduced the frequency of its flights from and to Beijing and Shanghai.

On 24 January 2020, the first COVID-19 case in Europe was confirmed in Bordeaux. The patient, a 48-year-old French citizen from China, who arrived in France on 22 January 2020, was hospitalised at Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Bordeaux. He was placed in isolation, and the authorities tried to trace people who had been in contact with him. On the same day that Agnès Buzyn said that "The risks of propagation of the virus in France are extremely low", two more cases were confirmed in Paris – a couple who had returned from China on 18 January 2020. The 31-year-old man and his 30-year-old partner, both from Wuhan, tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and were hospitalised at Bichat–Claude Bernard Hospital in Paris. On 26 January 2020, Buzyn declared that the French government had millions of masks which could be distributed to the population if necessary.

On 28 January 2020, an 80-year-old Chinese tourist from Hubei tested positive and was hospitalised at Bichat–Claude Bernard Hospital. The following day, his 50-year-old daughter tested positive and was admitted to the same hospital. The death of the 80-year-old on 14 February 2020 marked the first death from COVID-19 outside of Asia.

On 30 January 2020, a Paris doctor who had come into contact with a Chinese tourist whose infection was confirmed upon her return to China was confirmed positive for COVID-19. The same day, Air France suspended all flights to mainland China, except for a single daily flight to Beijing and Shanghai.

On 31 January 2020, Marie Fontanel, the President counselor for solidarity and health, quit her job to help her husband in the coming municipal elections. She would be replaced only one month later. The same day, all the countries of the Schengen Area, except France, suspended the issuing of visas in China.

Les Contamines-Montjoie cluster

On 8 February 2020, then-Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn confirmed five new cases which originated from a group of people who were on a holiday in Les Contamines-Montjoie, Haute-Savoie. They contracted the infection from a British national who had attended a conference in Singapore a few days before. Another British national, who had stayed in the same chalet as the five other individuals at Les Contamines-Montjoie, tested positive for COVID-19. 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! – announced that only four people remained infected in France. These four, all British nationals, three from the first group of Les Contamines-Montjoie and a fourth case which was discovered later, underwent quarantine at the hospital. The last remaining British national was discharged six days later.

Sundry cases

In late February 2020, multiple cases appeared in France, notably within three new clusters, in Oise, Haute-Savoie, and Morbihan.

On 25 February 2020, a French teacher from Crépy-en-Valois died; 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. A 64-year-old man from La Balme-de-Sillingy, who returned from a trip to Lombardy on 15 February, tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and was treated in Centre Hospitalier Annecy-Genevois, Épagny-Metz-Tessy. His wife also tested positive and was admitted to the same hospital as her husband.

On 26 February 2020, a 36-year-old man, who had made multiple trips to Lombardy, tested positive and was treated in Nouvel Hôpital Civil, Strasbourg. A 60-year-old French teacher from Oise was first admitted to Creil Hospital, then transferred to Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, where he died a few hours later. A 55-year-old man from Oise was admitted to the intensive care unit at CHU Amiens-Picardie, Amiens.

The same day, during an audition by the French Senate, Jérôme Salomon, the French ''Directeur général de la Santé'', declared that "A mask shortage is not a subject".

On 27 February 2020, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran announced that France had 38 cases of COVID-19 on its soil, with 20 new cases detected including a cluster in the Oise caused by close contacts with patients that were infected in Egypt.

On 28 February 2020, one new case was confirmed, a 23-year-old fashion student from Nice who had recently returned from Milan. Landes confirmed the first case of COVID-19 in the region, a woman who tested positive at Centre Hospitalier de Mont-de-Marsan and underwent isolation.

Mulhouse cluster

A religious week in Mulhouse that took place from 17 to 24 February 2020 was involved in the rapid spread of the virus to eastern France and beyond. Linked cases developed from early March in Orléans, Besançon, Saint-Lô, Belfort, Dijon, Mâcon, Agen, Briançon, Paris, Corsica, and French Guiana.

The annual gathering of the Christian Open Door Church between 17 and 24 February 2020 in Mulhouse which was attended by about 2,500 people became a significant cluster in the spread of coronavirus in France. Alerted by a parishioner and by 18 family members who tested positive on 1 March, the pastor notified the health authorities. A man who lived alone in Nîmes – and who had driven back alone from Mulhouse and who otherwise had no close contacts – tested positive, and the flurry of reported cases locally on 2 March brought the existence of a Mulhouse cluster to light.

On 3 March 2020, seven participants in the evangelical rally – including five members of a local family and a general practitioner from Bernwiller – had tested positive for the virus. 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. According to an investigative report by Radio France, at least half of the attendees had contracted the virus; in an interview on France Info, the pastor of the church admitted that 2000 attendees may have been infected. It is said that no specific health advice existed in light of the threat at the time. The source of the initial infection has not been determined; furthermore, as different attendees were welcomed each day, and due to the absence of any attendance register, epidemiological follow-up subsequent to the discovery of attendees who tested positive was rendered impossible. Even President Emmanuel Macron had spent several hours electioneering on 18 February 2020 in the Bourtzwiller district close to the church. It was only on 2 March 2020 when the health authorities woke up to data that there was an outbreak all over the country linked to the religious meeting, by which time secondary infections had spread out of control.

A Radio France investigation identified that one nurse who had attended the event was the origin of a subsequent cluster in Strasbourg at her workplace at the Strasbourg University Hospitals involving some 250 hospital colleagues. Five returnees from the Mulhouse rally were confirmed in French Guiana on 4 March 2020. On 5 March 2020, a retired couple from Lot-et-Garonne and another person from Deux-Sèvres who had attended the same Mulhouse gathering were declared positive for the disease. Five new cases from this cluster were registered in Corsica, and three in Normandy. On 6 March 2020, with 81 cases that had been detected in the previous 24 hours in Mulhouse, the departmental prefect declared that the means were no longer sufficient to systematically screen all suspected cases; only the most serious patients were to be hospitalised. The department of Haut-Rhin, in which Mulhouse is situated, imposed strict limits on the gatherings; all schools were closed henceforth.

Repatriations

On 31 January 2020, approximately 220 French returnees from China landed at Istres-Le Tubé Air Base, aboard an Airbus A340 from Esterel 3/60 transport squadron stationed at Creil Air Base. These evacuees were quarantined in a holiday camp in Carry-le-Rouet. 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. A third repatriation of 38 French occurred on 8 February 2020 under the auspices of the British government.

On 21 February 2020, a further thirty French people who had been staying in Wuhan were repatriated to France and placed in quarantine at Branville, in the Calvados. On 13 March 2020, twelve trainee gendarmes at the School of Gendarmerie of Tulle ( Corrèze) saw their internship in Spain terminated, with them and their 20 companions repatriated. They had been confined from 10 March 2020 following the positive test results of two of their Spanish cohort.

Municipal elections

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. Stringent restrictions on public life involving the closure of bars, restaurants and other businesses considered non-essential were set to begin the following day. Then-Health Minister, Agnès Buzyn, resigned on 16 February 2020 to run for the Paris mayor for La République En Marche!. She is succeeded by Olivier Véran, a neurologist. 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. In the end, the turnout of registered voters was 40%, lower than achieved in 1971 – the previous record lowest turnout.

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.

Lockdown measures

On 11 March 2020, the government named 11 prominent scientists to a committee to advise on scientific matters pertaining to the epidemic in France."Le consensus, c'est Pétain" : le professeur Raoult s'en prend au Conseil scientifique et à sa gestion du Covid-19
30 April 2020 ''France Info''. Retrieved 30 April 2020 On 17 March 2020, the Direction générale de la Santé (DGS) asked ''Santé publique France'' to buy ''urgently'' 1,1 million of FFP2 masks.

On 12 March 2020, Emmanuel Macron announced in a televised address that all schools and universities across the country would be closed.

On 13 March 2020, the Prime Minister, Édouard Philippe announced the closure of all pubs, restaurants, cinemas and nightclubs.

On 16 March 2020 (one day after the first round of the municipal elections), Emmanuel Macron announced the beginning of a lockdown period from 17 March 2020 at noon.

After the announcement of the lockdown, the Fédération Française du Bâtiment decided to stop non-essential work because of the danger for construction workers. On 19 March 2020, Muriel Pénicaud, the French Minister of Labour, criticized this decision, saying that it showed a lack of civic spirit. On 20 March 2020, the President of the federation replied in an open letter that what the Minister said was "scandalous". After several days, an agreement allowing a few construction sites to reopen was signed.

April–May 2020: First peak

During early April 2020, the numbers of deaths from coronavirus increased dramatically, with more than 10,000 people dying during that period of time.

The lockdown had initially been planned for 15 days, then for 30 days, but on 13 April 2020, Macron announced that the lockdown period would be extended until 11 May 2020.

On 4 May 2020, scientists retesting old samples found that a man had been infected with COVID-19 on 27 December 2019, almost a month before France reported its first case. The patient had not travelled abroad which sparked fears that the coronavirus might have been spreading in Europe earlier than leaders had thought.

On 11 May 2020, as daily cases had dropped to under 100 per day, primary schools and some middle schools were allowed to reopen in what was the first steps to reopening the economy.

On 28 May 2020, Édouard Philippe announced that a travel ban of 100 km (62 miles) would be lifted on 2 June 2020. Cafes, bars and restaurants were also allowed to reopen on the same day. This easing of restrictions did not apply to Paris.

June–July 2020: Easing of restrictions

On 14 June 2020, Cafes, Restaurants and Pubs were allowed to reopen in Paris.

On 22 June 2020, Cinemas, holiday centres, sports halls for group sports, all crèches, schools, and collèges (middle school) were allowed to reopen in what was the third stage of reopening the economy.

On 1 July 2020, France reopened its borders with non-European Union countries.

On 3 July 2020, Philippe resigned as Prime Minister and was replaced by Jean Castex. Castex had previously been appointed coordinator of the phasing out of the lockdown (confinement) implemented in France.

On 10 July 2020, the State of Health Emergency in France came to an end, essentially ending the lockdown. However, there were still restrictions on social distancing.

On 15 July 2020, Olivier Véran announced that from 24 July 2020, face coverings would be compulsory in all public indoor spaces and some outdoor public areas such as the Eiffel Tower.

August–October 2020

During August 2020, cases began to rise again. In the week ending 16 August 2020, more than 10,000 cases were reported during that week.

On 28 August 2020, France set a new record for the number of new cases in a single 24-hour period with 7,379 new cases reported. With this in mind, Paris made it compulsory to wear face coverings in most public spaces.

On 12 September 2020, France recorded more than 10,000 new cases in a single 24-hour period for the first time. Deaths had also begun to rise again, with 154 recorded on 18 September 2020, the highest since 17 May 2020 and the first time daily deaths increased by more than 100 since 16 June 2020.

On 5 October 2020, Paris once again shut its pubs, restaurants and cafes over a resurgence in cases, the second city to do so after Marseille. However, the government kept insisting that they would not impose a second nationwide lockdown.

On 10 October 2020, France recorded its then biggest daily increase in new cases with 26,896 new infections. 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.

On 15 October 2020, France became the first country in Europe to record more than 30,000 cases in a day, with 30,621 cases reported. This increase pushed France over the 800,000 mark in terms of cases, only the third country in Europe to reach this figure.

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).

On 23 October 2020, France's confirmed cases of COVID-19 passed 1 million. The total number of confirmed cases was 1,048,075, with an increase of 42,032, the highest daily rise in a 24-hour period.

On 25 October 2020, daily cases topped 50,000 for the first time, with a total of 52,013 new cases reported.

On 28 October 2020, Macron announced on a televised address that France would enter a second nationwide lockdown from 30 October 2020 that would last until at least 1 December 2020. Non-essential businesses such as pubs and restaurants would close but schools and factories would remain open.

November 2020

On 5 November 2020, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced further restrictions in Paris after some citizens were caught disobeying existing rules. These included requiring food shops to close at 10:00 pm to prevent people from gathering there.

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. He also stated that 1 in 4 deaths in France were at that time due to COVID-19.

December 2020

On 17 December 2020, Macron tested positive for COVID-19.

On 27 December 2020, a 78-year-old woman became the first person in France to get vaccinated against COVID-19. She received the first dose of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at the René-Muret Hospital in Sevran, Seine-Saint-Denis.

2021

On 31 March 2021, in a televised address to the nation, President Macron announced a third national lockdown to begin on 3 April 2021, and to last for at least a month. Macron warned that the country would "lose control if we do not move now". Principal measures announced included the closure of non-essential shops during the national lockdown and the suspension of attendance at schools for three weeks. During the national lockdown, domestic travel was banned and a nationwide curfew from 7pm-6am remained in place.

On 25 April, health authorities that the country has 5,473,579 confirmed cases with 76,502 deaths and 13,834,667 people have been given the first dose of vaccine.

On 29 April, President Macron announced dates for the easing of restrictions from the third national lockdown:

* 19 May: Curfew moves from 19:00 to 21:00. Shops, museums, cinemas, terraces, outdoor sports venues can reopen. Gatherings of more than ten people are prohibited.
* 9 June: Curfew extended to 23:00. Cafes and restaurants can reopen inside with tables of up to six people.
* 30 June: Curfew comes to an end.
On 2 December, the first confirmed case of the Omicron variant in France have been reported.

2022

On 5 January, President Macron said he, "really wants to piss off the non-vaccinated".

On 13 January, the French Senate approves President Macron's new set of measures that include a vaccine pass to enter public facilitates.

Timeline of measures

; National restrictions (within metropolitan France) relating to the COVID-19 Pandemic

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Vaccination

Situation by region

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

On 25 February 2020, a man from La Balme-de-Sillingy, who had returned from Italy, was declared infected and hospitalised in Annecy. He had been asymptomatic the previous evening, and so was the trigger for a cluster in Haute-Savoie. One day later his wife was hospitalised. On 27 February, a friend and his daughter followed him into the hospital. On 2 March 2020, 26 people were COVID-19 positive in Haute-Savoie. The hospital in Annecy being saturated, a case was transferred to Chambéry. François Daviet, the mayor of La Balme-de-Sillingy was also hospitalised.

On 27 February 2020, a man from Francheville was admitted to a Lyon hospital and tested positive for coronavirus. Three new cases were reported in the city of Lyon on 1 March.

A couple from Divonne-les-Bains were infected after a journey in Italy and hospitalised in neighbouring Switzerland on 29 February 2020. On the same day, two other men from Ferney-Voltaire, one French national who works in Switzerland and one Italian national, were also hospitalised in the Helvetic Country.

On 2 March 2020, an 89-year-old woman from Nyons was treated at Valréas hospital in the Enclave of the Popes in Vaucluse and tested COVID-19 positive. On the same day there were four new cases in Haute-Savoie.

Burgundy-Franche-Comté

On 2 March 2020, 10 cases were reported at the Dijon hospital. The first wave was reported on 27 February with cases related to the Oise cluster who subsequently infected their relatives. Five new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed on 3 March. The 15 cases in the region received care at Dijon CHU. Four cases in Côte-d'Or was in Italy the previous week.

Brittany

On 2 March 2020, 19 cases were reported in Brittany. Two were in the western city of Brest, an elderly man from Plougonvelin, returning from a trip from Egypt and his wife. There were also four cases in the regional capital Rennes, a firefighter and his wife, and two people who had returned from Veneto. 13 others cases were reported in Morbihan, around a cluster of 6 in Crac'h, 3 in Auray, 3 in Carnac and 1 in Saint-Philibert.

Also on 2 March 2020, the fourth death in France, and the first one in Brittany occurred, a 92-year-old man, who had been hospitalised in Vannes.

As of 29 March 2020, 962 cases had been reported as follows : 208 in Ille-et-Vilaine, 230 in Finistère, 313 in Morbihan and 107 in Côtes d'Armor.

Grand Est

On 26 February 2020, a 36-year-old man who had made repeated trips to the Italian region of Lombardy was hospitalised in Strasbourg but didn't have severe symptoms.

On 2 March 2020, it was announced that ten more people tested positive in the Grand Est, eight hospitalised in Strasbourg and three in Nancy. In Alsace, a Molsheim couple was hospitalised. The man had returned from Italy and was hospitalised first, followed by his wife. Four members of a family from Hésingue, a 27-year-old mother and her two children aged five and one, as well as one of the grandfathers, a 57-year-old man, were infected. Two others cases identified in the Bas-Rhin, a 49-year-old man and his 14-year-old son, had been in contact with a person from the Oise hospitalised in Amiens. Three family members were hospitalised in Nancy, a father and his son, aged 50 and 23, and the girl-friend of the 50-year-old patient, all from the department of Aisne