Lunchtime news update Wednesday 29th April 2020

Road accident - A 45 year old motorcyclist has been taken to hospital following a road accident. The incident occurred on the Voie Rapide in Nice on Tuesday afternoon shortly after 2pm at the Cimiez exit westbound. The cause of the accident is still to be determined.

Film Festivals - Twenty leading film festivals, including Cannes, Venice, Berlin and Toronto, will participate in a virtual event that will offer free films on YouTube.

A global film festival will be held online from May 29 to June 7 and will showcase feature films, short films, documentaries, music and virtual round tables.

Originally scheduled for May 12-23, the Cannes film festival had planned to postpone it to the end of June, but French authorities have since banned all rallies until mid-July.

Additional costs for public hospitals in France - Figures published have shown that additional cost for public hospitals due to the Covid 19 is estimated at nearly € 900 million. Covid-19 has led to very high levels of expenditure and added revenue losses.

Not all regions and establishments have been affected in the same way, but the virus has led to very high levels of expenditure.

France’s economy minister - France’s Minister of Economy said he was "lucid" on the current economic situation by saying that there will be bankruptcies and job losses "whatever we do".

Speaking to French media this morning Le Maire said “He had never hid the gravity of the crisis from the French" by "comparing" it at the beginning, to the great recession of 1929.  

Ending on a positive note Le Maire said he was nevertheless "proactive".

Parisians warned to return to the capital in an orderly fashion - France’s Secretary of State for Transport has said that he wants an “orderly” return on trains to the capital as many Parisians who left the city to spend lockdown in the countryside plan to return to the capital from May 11th.

While many are currently making online reservations the minister reminds people that the number of trains will remain very limited and that the SNCF will continue not to sell more than half of seats available.

No change for summer holiday’s for French schools - France’s Minister of Education Jean Michel Blanquer has confirmed this morning on French radio that the dates for the school summer holidays  will be on July 4th. Ministers are however working on tutoring modules for the holiday period for students who have fallen behind as well as new summer camps which can be 'learning' holidays.