France to recommend wearing of surgical masks, fabric not good enough

The French government will recommend that people wear surgical masks in public because fabric masks do not provide enough protection from COVID-19 transmission, Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Thursday.

France already requires masks to be worn in public places, but until now has not made recommendations about the type of masks that should be worn in that setting.

Veran, speaking to French broadcaster TF1, also said it was unlikely that restrictions on ski resorts would be lifted next month, effectively ruling out a return to skiing in time for the February school holidays.

He said that the government could not rule out a tightening of coronavirus restrictions if the situation with virus transmission deteriorates.

“The recommendation that I make to the French people is to no longer use fabric masks,” Veran told French broadcaster TF1.

Veran also said it was very unlikely that restrictions on ski resorts — a hotspot for the virus at the start of the pandemic — would be lifted next month.

That effectively rules out a return to skiing in time for the February school holidays, normally the last peak skiing period of the season.

Veran said that the government could not rule out a tightening of coronavirus restrictions if the situation with virus transmission deteriorates.

“We could be forced to take tougher measures than those that the French people dealt with this autumn… That could go as far as a lockdown if the situation were to require it,” he said.

France has reported over 71,000 coronavirus-related deaths since the pandemic began. It is now at 35% of its peak infection rate, according to Reuters data, well below its neighbour, Britain, which is at 70%. French schools are still open, and non-essential shops are allowed to trade.

However, French public health officials say they have detected a rise in transmission rates in the past few days and they are also wary of the spread of new, more contagious variants of COVID-19 which are prevalent in other countries