French and Riviera News Wednesday 3rd June 2020

Coronavirus-Two people in the Alpes-Maritimes have died from Coronavirus with a further three reported deaths in the Var.

There are still 106 patients receiving hospital treatment for the Virus in the Alpes Maritime and 139 in the Var.

The Virus has caused the deaths of 251 people in the Alpes Maritimes since the start of the epidemic while 227 lives have been lost in the Var.

13 people are still in intensive care in the two departments.

Frontier opened- Italy is opening its frontiers to EU citizens from this morning but anyone coming into France from Italy will have to prove residence and will be required to carry an authorisation permit.

Forms are available on the French Interior Ministry website and must be completed before travelling. People wishing to enter France must also be carrying proof of residence such as an electricity bill which is dated no longer than a year ago.

Bars and gyms-Many bars and gyms have reopened in the South of France with strict hygiene measures in force.

Reports say that the flow of customers has been “slow to moderate” at many establishments while people wishing to eat at restaurants are being required to reserve before turning up.

Gyms are limiting class sizes and access to workout spaces to stop too many people being in the same room at the same time.

Many people still appear to be extremely cautious about resuming their pre-virus habits and turnover has been mainly slow.

Road accident - Two people have been treated in hospital after a head-on collision in the Var. Two cars collided on the RD 554 to the west of Hyeres. The injuries sustained by the two people are not thought to have been seriously injured. 

Hospitals - The French government has announced increased funding for hospitals and clinics. Minister of Health said on Tuesday that an additional 100 million euros will be added to a fund of 377 million euros announced in April.

Sales - Meanwhile French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire has said that the summer sales across France will begin on July 15th and will last for four weeks. The sales were previously scheduled to begin on June 24th but the minister said that the delay had been put in place at the request of small traders who needed more time to build up their businesses after being closed during lockdown

Antibiotics - The World Health Organisation has warned that the increased use of antibiotics to fight the Covid-19 pandemic will strengthen bacterial resistance and lead to more deaths.

The director-general of the World Health Organisation said a worrying number of bacterial infections were becoming increasingly resistant to the medicines traditionally used to treat them.

As a result, the organisation has issued guidance to doctors not to provide antibiotic therapy to patients with mild Covid-19, or to patients with moderate illness without a clinical suspicion of bacterial infection.

Business

Google is being sued in the United States in a class action lawsuit which accuses the internet giant of illegally invading the privacy of millions of users by tracking their internet use through browsers set in “private” mode.

The lawsuit is seeking 5 billion dollars in damages from Google’s parent company Alphabet and was filed in the Federal Court in San Jose ,California on Tuesday.

Lawyers leading the action allege that Google surreptitiously collected information about what users were viewing online and where they browse despite them using Incognito mode.

The filed complaint said that Google gathers information through its Google Analytics ,Google Ad Manager  and other applications and website plug-ins including smartphone apps.

The plaintiffs say that this allows Google to learn about users’ friends ,hobbies ,favourite foods ,shopping habits and even “the most intimate and personally embarrassing things” that people search for online.

A Google spokesman said that the firm would “defend itself vigorously” against the claims.

 

Nissan has said that the UK’s largest car manufacturing plant will be “unsustainable” if the  country leaves the European Union without a trade deal.

The Japanese firm’s chief global operating officer says that people had to understand that the EU was the Sunderland plant’s biggest customer.

In an interview with the BBC ,Ashwani Gupta said that Nissan’s commitment to the UK could not be maintained if there was no tariff-free European Union access.

Nissan has invested billions of pounds in the Sunderland plant which has 7,000 workers.

The plant survived Nissan’s global restructuring announcement last week but Mr Gupta’s comments come despite that.He said that the bottom line was that Sunderland would be unsustainable without tariff-free access to the EU market.

 

And-EasyJet says that it hopes to resume flights on 75 percent of its route network by the end of August but the number of daily services will still be “significantly down” for a normal summer season.

The airline has already started limited services this month with facemasks obligatory for crew and passengers and no food served.

The firm is cutting 4,500 jobs and could be ejected from the FTSE 100 this week because of its tumbling share price.

News of a slow return to service did push EasyJet’s share price 2.75 percent higher in London on Tuesday but uncertainty remains about passenger numbers,services and flight operations.

Sport

Formula 1-The 2020 season will start with 8 races in Europe beginning with two in Austria on the 5th and 12th of July.

A third race will be held in Hungary the following weekend and then there will be a two week break before two consecutive races at Silverstone and Grand Prix in Spain ,Belgium and Italy.

All races will be held behind closed doors and the Formula 1 boss Chase Carey says that an event would not be cancelled should a driver or team member test positive for coronavirus.

Mr Carey said that Formula 1 had a procedure in place which meant that a Grand Prix would not have to be called off in the event of a positive test.

Some questions remain on what action teams might take in the event of a positive test at a circuit.

 

Meanwhile-Lewis Hamilton has said that he feels “completely overcome with rage” at events in the United States following the death in police custody of African-American George Floyd.

It’s the second time that Hamilton has spoken out this week and he says that he has failed to keep hold of his emotions.

 

Football-The Premier League has given clubs permission to play friendly games with strict restrictions before the restart on June the 17th.

Top-flight clubs want to play some games to get players match fit before the League resumes.

Friendlies can be played at training grounds or stadiums.Liverpool have already held a full 11 a side training game at Anfield.

 

Cricket-England will play three Tests in the space of 21 days against West Indies in July.

The three Tests at Southampton and  Old Trafford will be played behind closed doors on the 9th ,16th and 24th of July.

Both venues are bio-secure and have hotel facilities on site.

West Indies will arrive on the 9th of June and will be based at Old Trafford for initial quarantine and training.

 

Rugby Union-English Premiership and Championship clubs can resume training on a non-contact ,socially distanced basis from today.

There’s been no Rugby played in England since the 14th of March and no date for a restart has been set but its hoped that there will be some top flight action this summer.

Weather

Mainly fine in coastal areas-thunderstorms inland this afternoon with light to moderate south westerly winds and highs of 23-26 degrees.

Overnight lows of 18 degrees on the coast and 16 degrees inland with rain spreading across the region.

Thursday and Friday-Rain and thunderstorms tomorrow ,clearing during late afternoon.Fine on Friday.Highs of 20-25 degrees.

 

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