Paris hospital director: Christmas should be canceled due to COVID-19

PARIS (Reuters) – The traditional Christmas and New Year celebrations are set to be canceled this year over fears it could lead to another resurgence of the COVID-19 virus, Paris hospital director Julien Lenglet told RMC Radio on Tuesday .

Lenglet said there was a risk that the Christmas and New Year celebrations – known in France as “Saint-Sylvestre” – could end up as a “giant intergenerational cluster that could be the origin of a new potential third wave ”of COVID-19.

“I would say, without any hesitation, that Christmas and New Year’s Eve should be canceled,” said Lenglet, who works at the Antony hospital in the Paris region.

France entered a second nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus at the end of October, but some politicians and health experts are hoping that by doing so, the COVID-19 numbers may start to rise. drop, thus allowing the country to reopen in time for the Christmas season.

With more than 1.8 million confirmed cases since the outbreak of the disease, France has the fourth highest number of cases in the world, behind the United States, India and Brazil.