French and Riviera News Wednesday 26th February 2020

Local

Coronavirus - Two new cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed in France. According to the Ministry of health their state of health “does not cause any concern”.

The first is a young Chinese woman who had returned from China on the 7th February and is hospitalised in Paris under “observation” and the second, the 14th case is France, is a French man who had returned from Lombardy in Italy and is currently being treated in hospital  in the Auvergne-Rhone Alpes.

Alpes Maritimes 22 people tested - In the Alpes Maritimes the Prefect confirmed on Tuesday that 22 people have been tested for the virus with results expected today. Both the University hospital and the Lenval have taken additional measures in the face of the imminent threat of the disease on the French Riviera.

School trip returns early from Italy - Meanwhile a group of 24 school children from Beaulieu sur Mer have returned early from a ski trip in Italy following the outbreak of coronavirus over the border. The mayor Roger Roux took the precautionary measure for the group aged between 8 and 10 year’s old who had left on Saturday to spend a week in a resort 30km from Turin. Arriving home on Wednesday parents thanked the mayor for his action.

Press conference to reassure and explain - Here in the Principality following the news that two women had been hospitalized in Monaco on Monday afternoon who later tested negative for coronavirus the Ministry of State held a press conference on Tuesday evening. The conference was to reassure and explain the “health risks” as well as give an update on the situation.

Health minister Didier Gamerdinger recalled all the measures taken by the government, working alongside the emergency services, hospitals and the French authorities. Announcing that within a few days Nice will be able to test for the virus cutting the waiting time for results from 12 to 6 hours. Tests had previously had to be sent to Marseille.

Patients possibly carrying the coronavirus will be admitted to the Princess Grace Hospital, in a secure area to avoid the spread of the virus while awaiting results. If the results are positive, they will be transported to the Pasteur Hospital in Nice, where a unit of 40 to 60 beds has been set up.

Officials ended the conference adding that the director of national education here in Monaco will announce today any changes for schools in the Principality ahead of students returning to school on Monday.

Couple and their dog rescued by Navy helicopter - A couple and their Yorkshire terrier have been rescued from their sailboat by a Navy helicopter. As weather conditions worsened on Tuesday evening the rescue team intervened at around 5pm 80km off the coastline of Toulon in the Var.

The boat had apparently suffered engine damage the day before they had alerted the Cross Med in La Garde, they were at the time south of Corsica. The couple were airlifted and taken to hospital in Hyères. 

Missing teenager found safe and sound - The teenager reported missing in Luc en Provence has been found safe and sound. After more than forty-eight hours and following an appeal launched by the police the 17-year-old has been found. The search had been relayed by various media outlets and was shared by several thousand internet users on social networks.

National

Bus driver tests negative - A bus driver reported to have with flu-like symptoms has tested negative for coronavirus after the vehicle was stopped at a station in Lyon, France, having driven through Milan.

The bus was stopped at Lyon Perrache station after border police informed regional health authorities of the driver's symptoms, leading them to declare a “possible case”.

Heaters - A campaign has been launched today in Paris to ban heaters due to concerns about their electricity use. There has recently been a mass move to outdoor heating of these terraces with gas and electricity-fired radiators, which pollute the atmosphere and expend huge amounts of energy.

Rennes in Brittany banned the devices earlier in the year but previous attempts to ban heaters in the French capital have failed.

Political party presents a cat as one of its candidates - A French political party has presented a cat as one of its candidates as the local elections are set to take place in March. Left-wing party La France Insoumise announced the cat on its local “Rennes en commun” election list, as a means of raising awareness of animal welfare issues.

Business

Global stock markets have continued to plunge as investors become increasingly concerned about the spread of the coronavirus.

Once again ,airlines and travel firms as well as those that rely on China for their supply chains were the worst affected and oil prices have fallen again.

Losses on US markets accelerated with health authorities warning that the public should expect cases of the virus to spread.

Numbers of cases are spreading outside China with at least 280 people diagnosed in Italy and reports of small numbers of infections in other European countries including Austria ,Spain ,Switzerland and France.

There are 57 confirmed cases in the United States where the White House has sought to calm fears that the spread of the virus would derail the economy.

Some firms including Primark have issued stock warnings and there are concerns that the supply of goods from Chinese outlets may dry up in the coming weeks.

The chief executive of Walt Disney is stepping down.

Bob Iger will retain a significant role at the company but is handing the top job over to the head of Disney’s parks and products division Bob Chapek.

Mr Iger has been chief executive at Disney since 2005 and had previously announced plans to retire but later pushed back the date.

His resignation is a surprise move but ends years of speculation as to who will take over Hollywood’s most powerful studio.

On Tuesday he said that it was “the optimal time” to begin to hand control of the company to a new leader.

Disney has recently completed the acquisition of Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox entertainment empire and last year launched the Disney + streaming service.

And-The UK supermarket giant Tesco is to cut some 1,800 jobs as it makes changes to its bakery division in larger stores.

Tesco said that 1,816 bakery staff were at risk of redundancy with the changes taking place from May.

The firm said that it would be converting 58 of its bakeries so that they will finish only pre-baked products on-site.

Tesco said that it needs to adapt to changing customer demand with fewer people buying traditional bakery products such as loaves.

Sport

Olympics-The former president of the World Anti-Doping Agency and Olympic Committee member Dick Pound has said that there is a possibility that the summer games in Tokyo could be cancelled because of the spread of Coronavirus.

In an interview with the BBC ,Mr Pound said that it was “business as usual” at the moment but that things could change depending on the scale of the spread of the virus.

A number of sporting fixtures in China including the Grand Prix in April have already been cancelled and football matches in Italy have also been affected.

The organisers of the 6 Nations Rugby Championship are also keeping a close eye on the situation in Italy with the men’s and women’s games between Italy and Ireland and Italy and England potentially under threat.

The Irish Health Minister has said that he wants the Ireland v Italy game on the 7th of March to be cancelled.

Football-Chelsea’s hopes of making the last 8 of the European Champions League are all but over after they were beaten 3-0 at home in the first leg of their round of 16 tie last night by Bayern Munich.

All the German side’s goals came in the second half leaving Chelsea with a mountain to climb in the second leg.

The other tie last night ended Napoli 1 Barcelona 1.

There are two more games tonight.Lyon host Juventus and Real Madrid play Manchester City.

Motorsport-Fernando Alonso will race for McLaren at this year’s Indianapolis 500.

The 38 year old double Formula 1 world champion  is making a third attempt to secure motorsport’s Triple Crown and has already completed two thirds of the challenge having previously won the Monaco Grand Prix and the Le Mans 24 hour.

The only man to complete the feat in the history of the sport is the late Graham Hill.

Rugby Union-The Wales wing Josh Adams has been ruled out of the rest of the 6 Nations with an ankle injury.

Adams was the top try scorer at the World Cup last year.He picked up the injury during last weekend’s defeat by France and he could be out of action for three months.

Boxing-Frank Warren says that he’d be “disappointed” if Deontay Wilder takes up the option of a rematch with Tyson Fury.

The promoter said that he’d prefer for Fury to go straight to a fight with Anthony Joshua but “that’s the contract”.

Wilder was comprehensively beaten by Fury in Las Vegas on Saturday night but has the option in his contract of a rematch and another big payday.

Warren said that Wilder could be paid to step aside but if he wants the fight then he’s entitled to it.

Weather

Mainly fine with a moderate to strong westerly wind across the region gusting at up to 85 km/h this afternoon.

Top temperature 15 degrees.

Overnight lows of 6 degrees on the coast and 4 degrees inland with clear skies and less windy.

Thursday and Friday-Quite cloudy tomorrow with some afternoon rain.Fine on Friday.Highs of 13-15 degrees.