Curfew measure criticised in French town with no Covid cases

The mayor of a small village in the Bouches-du-Rhône department has filed an appeal against the prefectural order of a curfew put in place between 21:00 and 06:00, aimed at stemming the spread of coronavirus.

"In my opinion, this type of decision has to be made in relation to the incidence rate of the virus. In my town, but also in other small communities, the incidence rate is almost nil,” Daniel Gagnon, mayor of Cornillon-Confoux, told FranceInfo.

France’s curfew measures have been extended to include 54 departments, including Bouches-du-Rhône.

Cornillon-Confoux has a population of 1,400 and has no recorded cases of coronavirus.

Gérald Sevat, a resident of the town, also said imposing the measure on the inhabitants was unacceptable.

“If it was 23:00, we could accept it. We [usually] go home at 22:00. Now...at 21:00 we can’t eat anymore. If we want to eat with each other, we can’t do it anymore,” he said.

Other small towns or villages with low incidence rates could lodge a similar appeal against the prefectural decree, FranceInfo reported.

The incidence rate of Covid-19 in Bouches-du-Rhône is 348.2 positive tests for 100,000 people, while 57% of intensive care unit beds are occupied by patients with the virus, figures from the health ministry show.

Read more about the curfew:

France curfew: More details on plans to fight ‘second wave’

Covid-19: Curfew extended to 54 French departments

France curfew: exemption certificate information