France’s top scientific body has warned that the country will most likely witness the second wave of coronavirus this autumn or winter as the number of new cases continue to rise over the past two weeks.
“France has the situation under control but it is precarious with a surge of virus circulation this summer. The short term future of the pandemic mainly lies in the hands of the population,” the scientific committee on the disease said in a statement published by the Health Ministry’s website.
“It is highly likely that we will experience a second epidemic wave this autumn or winter,” the statement added.
The council has said that France could lose control over the virus “at any moment.” “The balance is fragile and we can change course at any time to a less controlled scenario like in Spain for example,” it said.
The warning comes after the head of the German doctors’ union said Germany was already dealing with a second wave and threw away its early success in curbing the virus by dissenting social distancing rules.
French authorities have already started to take added precautionary measures with stricter guidelines. Public hygiene rules have been tightened with cities such as Lille and Nice ordering people to wear masks in busy pedestrian streets.
The country has recorded 7,000 new cases in the last week, post controlling the early spread of the virus nearly with a strict two-month nationwide lockdown that ran from March 17 to May 11.