France intends to announce coronavirus epidemic

French authorities intend to announce the beginning of the disease epidemic caused by the new coronavirus in the coming days.

"Currently, we are in the so-called second phase of the fight against the epidemic, taking measures to curb the spread of the disease. In the coming days, we will move on to phase three, a situation that qualifies as an epidemic where the virus will spread widely across all regions. And then we need to continue fighting the virus to protect the most vulnerable parts of the population," Macron said.

The French president suggested that "the epidemic will clearly continue in the country for many weeks."

"We must, therefore, take the strongest measures to fight the virus," said Macron.

On December 31, 2019, Chinese authorities announced an outbreak of pneumonia in the city of Wuhan. The cause of the disease is a new type of coronavirus, which has been officially named COVID-2019.

WHO recognized the outbreak as an international emergency. The number of infected in mainland China exceeded 80,500. The disease has claimed 3,042 lives in the country, while more than 53,700 have recovered. According to the latest data from the World Health Organization, 267 people have died outside China.