Jean Castex
France: Coronavirus vaccine will be free for all
France will ensure free COVID-19 vaccinations for all who are in its social security system and has earmarked 1.5 billion euros of next year’s social security budget to cover the cost, Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Thursday. Castex said the vaccination campaign would begin in a matter of weeks, pending regulatory approval by the European Medicines Agency. The inoculation programme would be staggered over three categories of people, he said, commencing with the most vulnerable in nursing homes. “The vaccination will be free for all,” Castex told a press conference. France has ordered some 200 million doses from different pharmaceutical companies developing vaccines, Castex said, enough to inoculate 100 million people – more than France’s population. The COVID-19 vaccination will be vol...
France’s economy minister contracts coronavirus
Getty Images French economy minister Bruno Le Maire announced Friday he has tested positive for COVID-19 but said he had no symptoms and was working from home as cases soared again in France. Le Maire, who is responsible for reviving a French economy battered by the months-long pandemic, is not the first member of President Emmanuel Macron’s government to have been diagnosed with the disease. “I tested positive for Covid-19 this evening. I immediately placed myself in isolation at home in line with the health regulations issued by the government,” Le Maire said in a tweet. “I show no symptoms. I will remain in isolation for seven days. I continue to exercise my duties,” the 51-year-old minister said. On March 9, the former culture minister and current minister for external trade, Franck Ri...
Arson suspected in major fire at French cathedral in Nantes
French prosecutors have launched an arson investigation following a major fire at a 15th-century Gothic cathedral in the western city of Nantes on Saturday. The blaze spewed smoke from the front windows of the Cathedral of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, but the damage was mostly limited to the large pipe organ inside. The organ was “completely destroyed”, said the head of the local fire department, Laurent Ferlay. The public prosecutor’s office is now investigating whether arson was the cause and experts from Paris are expected to provide support. The fire broke out in three places, which is probably not a coincidence, Nantes prosecutor, Pierre Sennes, told local radio station France Bleu Loire Ocean. However, no signs of a break-in have been found so far, Sennes said, according to news agenc...
