Paris hospitals on emergency footing as virus cases rise

PARIS — French health authorities on Thursday ordered Paris hospitals to activate emergency measures to cope with fast-rising numbers of COVID-19 patients and announced stricter restrictions in four big cities were the virus is spreading rapidly. Health Minister Olivier Veran said the virus situation “keeps deteriorating in France unfortunately” with “more and more people infected” and “more and more people who are getting sick.” Hospitals in Paris and its suburbs activated an emergency plan as COVID-19 patients now fill 40% of the region’s intensive care units. The director of the Paris region public health agency, Aurelien Rousseau, tweeted Thursday that he ordered hospital directors to activate a special emergency plan to free up resources and protect medical staff. The move was necessary, he said, “given the pressure on intensive care units and on conventional hospital activity.” Each hospital’s emergency plan can include such measures as adding hospital beds, postponing non-urgent surgery, transferring non-COVID-19 patients to other facilities or sending them home, recalling staff from vacation and soliciting help from volunteers, according to the health agency.