'France seems to face 5th wave of Covid-19 pandemic'

Paris: The current epidemiological situation in France looks like the start of the fifth wave of the coronavirus pandemic, French Minister of Health Olivier Veran said. 

"Many of our neighbors are already facing the fifth wave [of the coronavirus pandemic]. It is often more severe than the previous ones ... What is happening now in our country looks like the beginning of the fifth wave. The spread of the virus is accelerating," Veran told the TF1 broadcaster on late Wednesday.

The minister does not rule out that France may avoid the full-scale fifth wave of the pandemic due to the massive vaccination and sanitary restrictions.

The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11, 2020. To date, more than 251.34 million people have been infected with the coronavirus worldwide, with over 5.07 million fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University.

France has confirmed more than 7.34 million COVID-19 cases so far, with 119,003 fatalities. (UNI)