Coronavirus: France opens housing for infected homeless people

The centres will be for those with mild cases not requiring hospital treatment

Medical staff push a patient on a gurney to a waiting medical helicopter at the Emile Muller hospital in Mulhouse, eastern France. AFP

An Indian man shows his stamped hand, indicating that the person is under 'home quarantine', in Mumbai, India. EPA

Judie Shape, centre, who has tested positive for the coronavirus, but isn't showing symptoms, presses her hand against her window after a visit through the window and on the phone with her daughter Lori Spencer, left, and her son-in-law Michael Spencer, at the Life Care Center in Kirkland. AP Photo

A single worshipper wearing a surgical mask sits on a pew in Westminster Cathedral in central London. AFP

People confined at their homes sing and dance from their windows to bolster themselves up during a lockdown in Madrid. AFP

A person walks on the deserted Passerelle du Palais de Justice in Lyon, central eastern France as a strict lockdown comes into in effect. AFP

Soldiers stand guard on road leading to a quarantine faciltity for people returning from Iran via the Pakistan-Iran border town of Taftan, in Sukkur in southern Sindh province. AFP

A passenger wearing protective clothing uses a self check-in machine at Incheon international airport, west of Seoul. AFP

Workers cheer themselves after loading travellers onto buses outside the New China International Exhibition Centre, near Beijing Capital Airport in Beijing. AFP

A nurse wearing a facemask walks outside the entrance of Sri Lanka's Infectious Diseases Hospital near Colombo. AFP

People queue for groceries at a supermarket in Singapore. AFP

A medical worker tests a person for the coronavirus at a drive-through facility primarily for first responders and medical personnel in San Antonio. AP Photo

A robot, developed by a start-up firm Asimov Robotics, holds a tray with face masks and sanitiser after the two robots were launched to spread awareness about the coronavirus, in Kochi, India, March 17, 2020. Reuters

France in the coming days will open accommodation centres for homeless people suffering from mild symptoms of coronavirus.

The first place to open will be in Paris and house 150 people. The French government said more than 80 sites have been identified across the country for similar centres to house some 2,875 people. A team of medical experts will determine who is allowed to stay.

"In the very difficult context that we are currently going through, my priority is to maintain assistance to the most vulnerable and I sincerely thank all the professionals and volunteers involved in this action," said Julien Denormandie, Minister of Housing.

Around 157,000 people struggling for somewhere to live are currently housed in government-funded centres.

France had already announced it would not ask around 14,000 homeless people to leave emergency accommodation set up over the winter.

President Emmanuel Macron said it was already crucial “for the most precarious, for the most deprived, for the isolated people, we will make sure, with the big associations, with also the local communities and their services, that they can be fed, protected, that the services we owe them be provided”.

On Thursday the head of the country’s public health agency warned that a country-wide two-week home confinement order to curb the spread of coronavirus would like be extended.

"Between two and four weeks" are required for the outbreak to be contained, Genevieve Chene told Franceinfo radio, which means an extension of the home confinement that began on Tuesday would "very likely be necessary."

The epidemic is worsening in the country, with 89 confirmed new deaths in 24 hours. On Wednesday, health authorities said half of patients in intensive care are under 60. There have been more than 9,000 confirmed cases.

To support struggling businesses, Finance Minister Bruno La Maire has suggested nationalising major companies could be a possibility.

"We have several options on the table for all of the major industrial companies which could face major threats on the market. It could be us raising our stake in their capital....or it could be nationalisations," Mr La Maire told France Inter Radio.

"We have all these options on the table, we are looking at them all, and I will be presenting them all to the President quite imminently," he said.