Cindi Cook
01 March 2020•Update: 02 March 2020
PARIS
France reported 130 cases of coronavirus Sunday evening, a rise from 100 cases recorded earlier in the day.
The announcement was made at a media briefing by Director General of Health Jerome Salomon at 4:00 p.m. (1500GMT).
Some 116 of the reported ill are hospitalized, nine of those in serious clinical situations. Previously, 12 cases had been cured, whereas two people died from the virus, also known as COVID-19.
The cases stretch across the French Republic, from Paris to the Oise region in the north to the Caribbean island territories, with three cases reported in Saint-Barthelemy and Saint-Martin.
One of the more notable patients is the mayor of La-Balme-de-Sillingy in the Haute-Savoie, an Alpine region in the east, where 13 people are infected.
Mayor Francois Daviet announced his infection on Facebook, saying that he would be moving to a hospital.
Strict measures have been taken in the Haute-Savoie as well as in Oise, another center of France's outbreak, where there are 47 cases.
"We are doing everything to slow development, and protect areas with little or no impact," Salomon said.
The government has banned gatherings in a confined environment of more than 5,000 people, and only in open environments under certain conditions. It has also recommended the postponement of all non-essential travel (specifically outside the EU) and of excessive social interaction if returning from an area where the disease is in circulation.
In Paris, the Louvre Museum remained closed whereas the Paris half-marathon, set to take place today, was also cancelled.
