France Toughens Coronavirus Lockdown As Death Toll Rises

PARIS, FRANCE - MARCH 27: A pharmacy employee wearing a protective mask shows a box of Plaquenil (Hydroxychloroquine) on March 27, 2020 in Paris, France. French Minister of Health, Olivier Veran, in a decree published in the Official Journal yesterday has authorised hospital doctors to prescribe Plaquenil (Hydroxychloroquine) to patients who need it, by way of derogation, without waiting for the results of clinical trials that are underway to determine whether or not chloroquine is of benefit as a treatment of coronavirus. Chloroquine or Hydroxychloroquine, marketed under the name of Plaquenil is now one of the four treatments evaluated in the European clinical trial against coronavirus (Covid 19). This drug prescribed for autoimmune diseases had raised much hope after the first trial by the professor of microbiology and infectiologist Didier Raoult involving 24 patients from the Timone hospital in Marseille. The country has introduced fines for people caught violating its nationwide lockdown measures intended to stop the spread of COVID-19. The pandemic has spread to at least 182 countries, claiming over 10,000 lives and infecting hundreds of thousands more. (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images)