French new COVID-19 cases above 3,000 for second day

The French Health Ministry on Sunday reported 3,015 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, the second day in a row in which new cases have surpassed the 3,000 mark.

However, the daily count was below the 3,310 cases reported on Saturday, when a new post-lockdown high was reached, the ministry's data showed.

The resurgence prompted Britain to impose a 14-day quarantine for people arriving from France, and led the authorities in Paris to expand zones in the capital where wearing a mask is mandatory outdoors.

Employment Minister Elisabeth Borne said she would propose on Tuesday at talks with employer and union representatives that masks be compulsory in collective workspaces.

“A theme that appears in all scientific opinions is the value of wearing them (masks) when there are several people in a confined space,” Borne said in an interview with French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche.

Doctors have increasingly called for masks to be required in the workplace while the HCSP, a body advising the government on health policy, issued a recommendation calling for masks to be compulsory in all common indoor spaces.