FRENCH police have raided the homes of senior government and health officials as part of an investigation into their handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Health Minister Olivier Véran and the director of the national health agency, Jérôme Salomon, are among those whose properties were searched on Thursday.
It comes after a court launched an inquiry earlier this year into the government’s handling of the pandemic.
It has faced criticism over shortages of equipment and slow response times.
Prime Minister Jean Castex is also under investigation, French media report, as is his predecessor Edouard Philippe and Mr Véran’s predecessor Agnès Buzyn.
The court launched the investigation in July after members of the public, including doctors and relatives of victims, alleged that the government had been criminally negligent in its response to Covid-19.
The special court hears cases of alleged wrongdoing by ministers and other government officials in the course of their duties.
But for the claims to be substantiated, there would have to be evidence that officials knowingly failed to take obvious steps that would have saved lives.
The police searches comes shortly after President Emmanuel Macron announced a night-time curfew in Paris and eight other cities to try to curb the rapid spread of Covid-19 in the country.
The measure – which will apply from 21:00 to 06:00 – will come into effect from Saturday and last for at least four weeks. A public health emergency has also been declared.
How bad is the situation in France?
A further 22,951 cases of Covid-19 were confirmed on Wednesday. “We have to act. We need to put a brake on the spread of the virus,” Mr Macron said in a television address.
The president added that this wave of Covid-19 was different to the outbreak in the spring because the virus had spread to all parts of France.
The country managed to control the first outbreak by introducing a national lockdown.
It then opened bars and restaurants in the summer, and allowed foreign tourists to visit as part of an effort to boost the ailing economy. Schools reopened and universities began teaching in person classes in early autumn.
But since August the number of reported cases has accelerated quickly.
Wednesday was the third time in six days that France reported more than 20,000 new infections. Mr Macron said the new measures aimed to reduce daily cases to around 3,000.
As with the first wave of Covid-19, there is concern that hospitals and intensive care units will become overwhelmed with patients.
What are the new measures there?
The night-time curfew was announced by President Macron on Wednesday, and it will apply to the capital Paris and its suburbs as well as Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Saint-Etienne, Rouen, Toulouse, Grenoble and Montpellier.
Affecting around 22 million people, it will be applied for four weeks to begin with and Mr Macron’s government will seek to extend it to six.
– BBC
