Thousands of Heritage Days events cancelled across France

European Heritage Days events scheduled to take place this week have been cancelled in a number of French cities because of the spike in coronavirus cases.

Planned events in Bordeaux are still listed on the official Journées Européennes du Patrimoine website on Tuesday. But they had been abandoned by order of the prefecture of Nouvelle Aquitaine on Monday, as the region stepped up efforts to contain the spread of the disease.

Nice had previously cancelled planned European Heritage Days' events, while Marseille - which is also struggling with a jump in cases of Covid-19 - is considering cancelling events it has scheduled for the Europe-wide celebrations on September 19 and 20, according to Le Figaro.

For now, planned Heritage Days in Paris are going ahead, but Covid has prompted the cancellation of thousands of events nationally. About 10,500 events across France are currently still taking place, compared to 16,000 originally scheduled. More may be called off in the coming days as local authorities consider following the lead of Nice and Bordeaux.

Attendees at events still going ahead will be required to wear a mask, and conform to hygiene rules.