Lunchtime News update Monday 18th May 2020

Parents take legal action against Timone hospital in Marseille - The father of a 9-year-old boy who died on May 8th at La Timone hospital in Marseille has filed legal action.

On May 2nd, following a previous visit a few days early to A&E where the patients was given antibiotics, his condition got worse and the young boy was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit of Timone where he was diagnosis of Kawasaki disease. A blood test showed that the child has been "in contact" with the coronavirus in the previous weeks, without developing the symptoms.

The boy’s father argues that his death could have perhaps been avoided if had been admitted to hospital the first time.

The parents will file a complaint against the hospital in La Timone.

Back to school - It’s back to school today for some college students.  150,000 young people from 6eme and 5eme in green zones are to resume lessons.

Wearing a mask will be compulsory for all middle school students, as announced by Edouard Philippe on April 28th. Teachers will also need to be equipped.

In addition, according to the health rules, parents will have to take their child's temperature before attending lessons.

Press - The agency and broadcasting company (SAD) of Marseille, a subsidiary of the Presstalis group, has gone into liquidation with 134 jobs being cut.

With unions continuing strike action which began on May 11th more than 4,000 publications , from national and regional press and magazines, have not been distributed in Marseille, Toulon, Fréjus and Avignon with the entire Bouches-du-Rhône department being affected.

Local elections in France - Thirty-six French mayors, including Paris' Anne Hidalgo, have urged the French government to hold the second round of local elections in June. Thousands of municipalities across France are still waiting to elect their local representatives in a vote delayed by the coronavirus lockdown.

The group, which includes mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi and Martine Vassal mayor of Marseille, said that “democracy can't remain locked down any longer," adding that "millions of French people are waiting to elect their mayor, to establish a municipality capable of making crucial decisions for our schools, our transport, our jobs,"

Princess Charlene Foundation - The Princess Charlene Foundation has welcomed cyclist Peter Sagan as one of its ambassadors.

The Slovak rider, a member of the German BORA-hansgrohe team, is one of the cyclists of his generation, who has totalled 113 professional victories.

President of the Haute de France region refuses to take mask off during ceremony - During a ceremony paying tribute to General De Gaulle on Sunday in the presence of French President Emmanuel Macon, the president of the Hauts-de-France region, Xavier Bertrand was the only political figure to keep his mask on.

Xavier Bertrand explained to reporters that the Elysee had asked the participants to remove their masks before the start of the ceremony but that he refused.

Xavier Bertrand had already launched hostilities against the French government the same morning; in a forum published in the Journal de Dimanche he drew the attention to parallels between the defeat of France in 1940 and the management of the coronavirus by the French government. 

Testing on masks - Experts from the University of Hong Kong have claimed that tests carried out on Hamsters have shown that using a mask significantly reduces the spread of the coronavirus.

The research is among the first to study to see whether wearing a mask can prevent carriers of the Covid-19 virus from infecting other individuals.

Researchers placed cages containing previously infected hamsters close to those of healthy ones. Surgical masks were placed between the two cages, with an air flow from the cage of sick hamsters to that of healthy hamsters.

 

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