Lunchtime News Tuesday October 20th 2020

Wake up ! -The head of the organisation that represents Imams in France has told parents to “wake up” and ensure that their children are not influenced to hate and murder.

Hassen Chalghoumi who’s the president of the Conference of Imams in France was speaking in response to the barbaric murder of 47 year old teacher Samuel Paty outside the school where he taught near Paris last Friday.

Mr Chalghoumi says that parents must watch over their children before they become criminals and murderers.

He said that the acts of radicalised Islamists brought “shame on humanity”.

15 people are in police custody in connection with Mr Pety’s murder and authorities have launched a crackdown on suspected Islamic militants.

Covid-19-The number of coronavirus patients receiving treatment in French intensive care hospital beds has risen above 2,000 for the first time since the final days of the first wave of the pandemic.

Official data shows that there are currently 2,099 patients with the virus in ICU care ,a rise of 151 on Monday.

146 people infected with the disease have died in the past 24 hours ,the highest number since the 12th of May.

33,623 people have now died in France from the virus since the start of the pandemic.

The average positivity rate for infection following testing stands at 13.4 percent.

Care home infection-80 people at a care home at Salernes in the Var have tested positive for Covid-19.

63 of those infected are residents and the 17 others are staff.

The families of those infected have been informed of the situation and visits to the home have been restricted.

Flu vaccine-Supplies of the winter flu vaccine are running low in both the Alpes Maritimes and the Var.

Laboratories producing the vaccine say that they’re out of stock.

Initial supplies of this year’s vaccine which were ordered by hospitals and pharmacies in June and July have now run out in many areas.

Authorities have been advising the elderly and those with underlying health problems to get vaccinated as quickly as possible.

The vaccine offers no protection against Covid-19 but will allow health workers to determine more easily whether someone has contracted the virus if they’ve received the flu jab.

The French government maintains that it ordered more than 15 million of the doses this year and is trying to establish why supplies are running dry in many areas of the country.

Goalkeeper dies-The former French national football goalkeeper Bruno Martini has died at the age of 58.

Martini played 31 times for France and represented Auxerre and Montpellier at club level.

He was part of the backroom staff at Montpellier and suffered a heart attack during a training session last week.He died in hospital on Monday.