France will face a months-long coronavirus epidemic that will overwhelm its health system if something does not change, one of the country’s top medical figures warned Sunday.
France 24 reports Patrick Bouet, head of the National Council of the Order of Doctors, telling the weekly Journal du Dimanche, that “the second wave is arriving faster than we thought,”
The report refers the fact that new restrictions to slow the spread of the disease in the country’s worst-hit areas, including the Mediterranean city of Marseille and the Paris region, where met with local resistance.
“Warnings delivered this week by Health Minister Olivier Veran had not gone far enough. He didn’t say that in three to four weeks, if nothing changes, France will face a widespread outbreak across its whole territory, for several long autumn and winter months,” Bouet said.
There would be no medical staff available to provide reinforcements, and France’s health system would be unable to meet all the demands placed on it, he warned. The health workers responsible for the spring “miracle” would not be able plug those gaps, he added.
