France says ‘merci’ to COVID medics
Bastille Day recognition goes to disease fighters
PARIS — Medics in white coats replaced uniformed soldiers Tuesday as stars of France’s Bastille Day ceremonies, as the usual grandiose military parade in Paris was recalibrated to honor medics who died fighting COVID-19, supermarket cashiers, postal workers and other heroes of the pandemic.
Yet for thousands of participants in a protest across town, the national homage wasn’t nearly enough to make up for missteps by French President Emmanuel Macron and his government before and during the coronavirus pandemic.
Riot police sprayed tear gas, and unruly demonstrators hurled smoke bombs as the largely peaceful demonstrators marched to Bastille plaza, where the French Revolution was born on July 14, 1789.
The contrasting scenes marked a Bastille Day unlike any other, overshadowed by fears of resurgent infections in a country where more than 30,000 people have already lost their lives to the novel coronavirus.
With tears in their eyes or smiles on their faces, medical workers stood silently as lengthy applause in their honor rang out over the Place de la Concorde in central Paris from Macron, the head of the World Health Organization and 2,000 other guests.
A military choir sang the national anthem, and troops unfurled an enormous French tricolor flag across the plaza. The battle against the virus was the main focus, as Macron sought to highlight France’s successes in combating its worst crisis since World War II. Mirage and Rafale fighter jets painted the sky with blue-white-and-red smoke and were joined by helicopters that had transported COVID-19 patients in distress.
The guests included nurses, doctors, supermarket and nursing home workers, mask-makers, lab technicians, undertakers and others who kept France going during its strict nationwide lockdown. Families of medical workers who died with the virus also had a place in the stands.
Medics in jeans or sandals strolled onto the plaza for the climax of the ceremony, and the lengthy military parade was truncated into a smaller affair closed to the public to prevent new virus infections.
In other developments:
In Britain, officials announced they will require people to wear face masks starting July 24, after weeks of dismissing their value. “We are not out of the woods yet, so let us all do our utmost to keep this virus cornered and enjoy summer safely,” British Health
Secretary Matt Hancock told lawmakers in the House of Commons.
Macron said masks will be required in France by Aug. 1, after recent rave parties and widespread backsliding on social distancing raised concerns the virus may be starting to rebound.
Officials in the Australian state of Queensland said those breaking quarantine rules could face up to six months in jail. With higher fines and the threat of jail time, “I hope that will demonstrate to the public just how serious we are about enforcing these measures,” Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles said.
In Thailand, where there have been no reports of locally transmitted cases for seven weeks, authorities have revised rules governing visitors from abroad after a breakdown in screening led to two infected foreigners posing a possible risk to public health. The government said Tuesday that diplomats will be asked to stay in state-supervised quarantine for 14 days, instead of self-isolating. And it is postponing the recently allowed entry of some foreign visitors so procedures can be changed.
India, which has the third-most cases after the U.S. and Brazil, was rapidly nearing 1 million cases with a jump of more than 28,000 reported Tuesday. It now has more than 906,000 and accumulated more than 100,000 in just four days.