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SNCF guilty of involuntary homicide for 2015 accident that killed 11
Two workers have also been handed suspended prison sentences
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Armour-plated Peugeot formerly owned by France's richest man up for auction
Enthusiasts are interested owning former car of billionaire, says auction house
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High level of fraud hits French government energy scheme
Experts demand tighter controls as fraudulent activities cost the MaPrimeRénov’ scheme over €400 million in 2023.
‘Real risk’ of second wave of Covid-19
The risk of a second wave of Covid-19 from the end of October is real, the head of France’s scientific advisory council has warned.
A second wave
“It could start off again in France, or elsewhere,” Professor Jean-François Delfraissy told an inquiry into the handling of Covid-19. “That’s why we have to be very attentive to barrier measures, because for now there’s no really effective treatment and no vaccine.” He said, however, that a new general confinement would be “impossible and undesirable for economic and social reasons”.
New Covid-19 clusters
A total of 216 new Covid-19 clusters were reported in mainland France in the latest figures available (June 16) since the end of lockdown. Health authorities say cases are mainly under control but issued a warning to remain vigilant. Thirty cases were in Sarcelles (Val-d’Oise). Professor Didier Raoult, the infectious diseases expert who championed anti-viral drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine to treat coronavirus, has also warned of a possible new wave. He said we should watch New Zealand as it has similar conditions to France and is entering its winter season.
France deconfinement: What opens June 22, in July and beyond
Treatment trials
France has been considering whether to resume trials of the use of hydroxychloroquine against Covid-19 as part of the European Discovery tests after doubt was cast on the reliability of a study in British journal The Lancet, which said it caused increased deaths. The article influenced France to ban it as a treatment. The WHO removed the drug from its Solidarity trial, saying it did not reduce mortality, based on its own results and the UK’s Recovery trial.
France leads the way with vaccine trials