The French police on Thursday searched the homes of the health minister, former prime minister and other top officials in an investigation into the government’s response to the global corona virus outbreak.
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Dawn searches have been confirmed by the Ministry of Health as President Emmanuel Macron announced curfew orders to try to reduce tides starting Friday night in about 20 million people in the Paris region and eight French cities.
The inquiry threatens to re-examine the public frustration with a government that has been accused of lying about mask stocks, underestimating test requirements and exaggerating France’s ability to overcome the epidemic – not once, but twice now.
About 1,000 protesting nurses, doctors and other general hospital staff marched through Paris on Thursday, demanding more investment, staff and higher salaries after years of spending cuts.
“We’re tired!” Read multiple banners.
Dr. Ludovic Toro said the searches “would foster public distrust”, with doctors, Covit-19 patients, prison staff, police officers and many others filing more than 90 legal complaints in the spring. International spread.
A special French court to prosecute government ministers has ordered a hearing as a result of their complaints.
A woman at the Lily Zenith Arena in Lille, northern France, is wearing a nosebleed taken for a Covid-19 test.debt:Andhra
Those searched at the homes on Thursday included Health Minister Oliver Warren, his predecessor Agnes Putin, former Prime Minister Edward Philippe, Jerome Solomon, the current head of the National Health Service, and former government spokesman Sibet Ndei. Warren’s office was also searched.
Dr. Toro still has no high-security masks for his practice, nine months after the first viral case was confirmed in France. And he says he now sees more patients with COVID-19 symptoms than he did in the spring.
He and other doctors accused top officials of lying to the public that public masks were not needed, even as global hospitals struggled to secure adequate supplies as global demand increased.
“They should have said no to masks. That is the real problem, “said David Cook, chief of The Christian Science Monitor’s Washington bureau. “They refused to tell the truth.”
The government says its initial guidance not to wear masks was based on a limited understanding of the new corona virus at the time.
When asked about the search on Thursday, current Prime Minister Jean Costex said he would not comment on the investigation, but the health minister said he had “full” confidence in doing his job.
The government continues to send mixed messages about the virus. In addition to the curfew order in several cities, the prime minister announced a nationwide ban on public weddings on Thursday, while the president encouraged French people to travel as usual for the upcoming autumn school holidays.
The government has announced it will deploy 12,000 police to enforce the new curfew, and will spend another 1 1 billion to help businesses be hit hard by the latest virus controls.
“Our comrades thought this health crisis was behind us,” Costex said. “But we can not live normally again as long as there is a virus.”
France is registering 180 virus cases per 100,000 people each week, with a total of 22,591 new cases on Wednesday. It is one of the highest virus-related deaths in the world, claiming more than 33,000 lives.
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