MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd August, 2020) The number of COVID-19 cases in the Northern regions of France has increased by 16 percent over the last week, as the epidemiological situation in the country's North has been deteriorating lately, France's Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Monday.
Castex arrived Monday morning in the city of Lille, the capital of France's northernmost Hauts-de-France region, to analyze the resurgence of the coronavirus epidemic observed in the area in recent weeks.
"COVID19 / the virus is still circulating. In [France's] North, the test-positive rate increased by almost 16% in a week. At @ARS_HDF [regional health agency of Hauts-de-France region], in Lille, I am analyzing the epidemiological situation with the health authorities and our security and rescue forces," Castex wrote on his Twitter page.
The local authorities introduced the requirement to wear masks while outdoors in some parts of the country in recent weeks. In particular, the northwestern region of Mayenne imposed the rule in 69 of its cities starting Monday. The same rules are in effect in the southwestern French city of Biarritz.
Despite the surge in coronavirus infections on the French mainland in recent weeks, the country's government has so far ruled out the option of introducing another nationwide lockdown, as a second wave of the virus has not been confirmed by the health authorities.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, France has reported some 180,000 COVID-19 infections and over 30,000 related fatalities. To date, France has 225,198 coronavirus cases.
