France to use helicopters, drones to enforce virus restrictions

PARIS, France — France is calling up helicopters and drones to boost the government's attempts to keep people in their homes, police officials said Saturday.

"The helicopters will give us a larger vision and a panoramic view of the situation in real time to help guide the patrols on the ground," a national gendarmerie source said.

One helicopter was already in use on Saturday, hovering above major Paris parks to ensure that confinement rules were respected.


Later Saturday, a French navy helicopter-carrier was on the way to Toulon on the south coast of France to evacuate coronavirus patients from the Mediterranean island of Corsica to hospitals in nearby Marseille.

And on Saturday evening, a French navy helicopter-carrier was on the way to Toulon from where the vessel's helicopters will evacuate coronavirus patients from Corsica to Marseille.


Drones will also be used to help keep people confined, in particular to keep an eye on the banks of the Seine river.

However the head of the army health service (SSA) Marilyne Gygax-Genero told the Journal du Dimanche weekly: "We don't have unlimited means."

The French army has already been supporting the hard-pressed medical services in the northeast city of Mulhouse.

Inmates in several prisons meanwhile refused to return to their cells after exercise, the prison service said Saturday.

More than 9,000 infected

France has been in lockdown since midday on Tuesday, with excursions from the home limited to buying food, visiting the doctor, walking the dog or going for a solitary jog.

The measures came as the government mulled expanding the two-week home confinement imposed on all residents in a bid to brake the epidemic that has seen more than 14,000 infected with the virus in France, and 562 deaths.

No gatherings are allowed, and workers can only go to work if their employer does not provide an option for working from home.

People who venture outside need to print out and fill in a government form. They risk a 135-euro ($145) fine if they cannot show one.

Although a full curfew has not been imposed, the government has deployed 100,000 police to monitor people's movements and make sure people who are outside keep their distance.

250 million face masks

The French government's scientific council will on Monday make an announcement on the length and extent of the emergency measures, according to Health Minister Olivier Veran. 

To help contain the COVID-19 virus, 250 million protective face masks will become available 'progressively", the minister told a news conference.

There is currently a lack of masks, especially for health workers who are prone to catch and spread the disease.

Veran said the government was also seeking to multiply the coronavirus test kits available in order to increase testing once the restrictions on movement are lifted.

Businesses are suffering from the restrictions. Many have been told to close with only key businesses like supermarkets and pharmacies allowed to keep their doors open.

"Here we are still making the bread but we're not giving out the change," said one baker in the eastern Paris suburb of Montreuil.

Coins are laid out by denomination on the counter and customers take whatever is their due, in order not to spread the virus.

Ordinary citizens are also, increasingly, doing their bit to assuage the effects of the forced confinement.

A florist shop in the Sarthe region of western France is losing heavily as his stock of roses and tulips can't be preserved.

"Rather than throw them away we decided to send the flowers to hospitals throughout France to give a boost to the nursing staff," said the florist, Philippe Bigot. "It's our contribution".

Agence France-Presse

US leads global fight against coronavirus economic threat

WASHINGTON, United States — The US Federal Reserve on Tuesday led the global charge in response to the growing economic risk posed by the new coronavirus, announcing an emergency interest rate cut after the UN health agency said the world has entered "uncharted territory."

But the Fed's stimulus, which came hours after the Group of Seven finance ministers and central bankers pledged to take action using "all appropriate policy tools," wasn't enough to prevent Wall Street stocks from tumbling as the virus continued its global spread.


The death toll in the United States rose to nine, many linked to a nursing home in the Seattle suburbs, while the overall number of infections shot past 100 including cases on both coasts and the Midwest.

More than 90,000 people have been infected and 3,100 killed since the first cases were identified in China's Hubei province late last year.

The vast majority of cases have been in China, but South Korea, Italy and Iran have also emerged as hotspots. The virus has also spread into Latin America and Africa, raising fears it could become established in conflict-hit countries with weak health infrastructure.

The World Bank unveiled a $12 billion aid package on Tuesday to help the world's poorest nations with medical equipment or health services.

Global bourses have seen dramatic swings over the past week as concerns mount that the outbreak could threaten global growth and drive some countries in to a recession.

In a unanimous decision, the Fed's policy-setting committee slashed its key interest rate by a half point to a range of 1.0-1.25 percent -- the first between-meeting cut since the height of the global 2008 financial crisis.


"My colleagues and I took this action to help the US economy keep strong in the face of new risks to the economic outlook," Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters.

But the immediate impact seemed the opposite of what was intended: Investors fled to safe assets, sending the 10-year Treasury yield to its lowest ever return while stocks lost most of the ground recovered Monday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished nearly three percent lower, though European stocks and oil markets were higher but off the day's best levels.

Uncharted territory

Financial jitters followed a dire warning from the World Health Organization's chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who said on Monday: "We are in uncharted territory."

He added that "we have never before seen a respiratory pathogen that is capable of community transmission, but which can also be contained with the right measures."

Countries across the world have imposed extraordinary measures in a bid to contain the virus, with millions of people across large swathes of China forced into quarantine.

Italy has also locked in entire regions, while many nations have imposed travel restrictions on visitors from badly hit countries.

Sports events, concerts and large gatherings have been canceled, including Google's annual developer conference, one of its most important events, which was to be held in May.

The International Olympic Committee said Tuesday it was pushing ahead with plans for the Tokyo Olympics kicking off in July.

European football's governing body likewise said the virus would not derail its championship in June and July.

In the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates announced six more coronavirus cases linked to an abandoned cycling event, saying that two Russians, two Italians, one German and a Colombian had been infected.

'A war'

South Korea remains the biggest infection cluster outside China, confirming 851 new cases on Tuesday, its biggest daily increase.

It has clocked a total of more than 5,100 cases, with 28 deaths. "The entire country has entered a war with the infectious disease," South Korean President Moon Jae-in said.

By contrast, China reported 125 new cases Tuesday — its lowest daily increase in six weeks — with all but 11 infections in Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital.

The nationwide death toll rose to 2,943 with 31 more deaths, and about 80,000 total cases.

Argentina announced its first two cases Tuesday while Spain announced its first death, a man who died last month in the eastern region of Valencia.

Elsewhere in Europe, attention turned to containment, including Switzerland where all soldiers were confined to their bases after a case of the virus was discovered in their ranks.

France, which has more than 200 cases and four deaths, closed dozens of schools on Tuesday in several virus-stricken regions.

President Emmanuel Macron said authorities would requisition all face mask stocks and production in the coming months in response to the outbreak, after 2,000 masks were stolen from a hospital.

The WHO also issued a warning Tuesday that supplies of protective gear to fight the virus were "rapidly depleting" around the world.

It also said a lack of these supplies was complicating efforts at controlling the outbreak in Iran, where the virus was now "well-established." The Middle Eastern country has had 77 deaths, the second highest after China.

Agence France-Presse

Uber suspends 240 users accounts over possible virus contact

Uber has suspended the accounts of 240 users in Mexico who may have been in contact with drivers that ferried a person suspected of having the deadly coronavirus.

More than 300 people have died from the novel coronavirus in mainland China and although more than 100 people have been infected outside the country, Mexico has not reported a confirmed case.

The ride-hailing app said Mexico City health authorities requested information in January on a possible carrier of coronavirus, with Uber finding two drivers who transported the suspected individual before driving a further 240 people.

"We have proceeded to send information to these two drivers and the 240 users regarding the temporary deactivation of their accounts," the company said in a statement posted on Twitter.

Mexico's Ministry of Health said it continues to monitor people who may have had contact with the possible coronavirus carrier -- identified as a tourist of Chinese origin -- who subsequently left the country.

"Of the contacts identified so far, none have developed symptoms of the disease more than 10 days after exposure, which exceeds the average incubation time," the authorities said in a report.

Also on Saturday, Mexico said it had evacuated 10 people from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak.

Agence France-Presse