France To Extend COVID-19 Health Emergency Until July 24

The government of France has decided to extend the health emergency imposed to fight the COVID-19 infection for two months until July 24, Health Minister Olivier Veran said.

A proposal to be put to parliament on Monday said the lifting this month of the emergency, which began on March 24, would “be premature” and “could see a risk of the outbreak” intensifying.

France is currently the fifth most affected country due to the COVID-19 outbreak. So far, France has over 160,000 reported cases of the coronavirus. More than 24,500 people have died of the Covid-19 disease so far in the country.

France is preparing to ease restrictions on May 11 following a strict nationwide lockdown. The country went under lockdown on March 17. In an address marking international Labour Day on Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron warned that the exit from lockdown would not signal a return to “normal life”.

“There will be a recovery that will need to be reorganised,” Macron said. “There will be several phases and May 11 will be one of them.”

The coronavirus, which causes the respiratory infection known as Covid-19, was first detected in the city of Wuhan, China, in late 2019. There are many theories surrounding the origin of the COVID-19 disease. While initially it was considered to have originated from bats, new theories have come to light recently. According to Fox News, the COVID-19 virus was accidentally leaked by an intern at Wuhan Lab.

It has been spiraling ever since and has affected the world in an unprecedented way. Worldwide there are more than 3,400,000 coronavirus cases in the world. There have been over 240,000 deaths due to the pandemic worldwide.