French supermarket installs Covid-19 disinfection door

The door at an Intermarch茅 supermarket mists shoppers with a disinfectant as they enter. It comes as Covid-19 cases continue to rise in France, and the government considers changing quarantine rules.

Joanna York

Published Tuesday 08 September 2020 - 15:59 Modified Tuesday 08 September 2020 - 15:59

The disinfectant door has been installed as a 鈥渢est鈥� since the beginning of September in the Intermarch茅 supermarket in Monastier-sur-Gazeille, Haute-Loire (Auvergne-Rh么ne-Alpes).

Shoppers who choose to pass through the door to enter the supermarket are misted with a disinfectant spray.

Store manager David Accaries told the door was installed to make sure customers felt safe when visiting the supermarket. He said that in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis: 鈥淧eople were afraid, they were panicking. We didn鈥檛 know if we had to wear masks, we didn鈥檛 know what was going on. It was total uncertainty. We had a very difficult time.鈥�

The door has been installed as a test but Mr Accaries believes it could provide useful in the long-term. He said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 something we can reuse in 'flu season, if there are stomach bugs going around, and all year.鈥�

Customers, however, have mixed reactions. One told : 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 really good. We should see more things like this.鈥�

Another said: 鈥淲ould you put up a door like this for the 'flu? Or common colds? No!鈥�

Covid cases in France still rising

According to figures released by Sant茅 Publique France (SPF) yesterday (September 7), 4,203 new cases of Covid-19 were recorded in the previous 24 hours.

This marks a reduction on the previous three days during which daily numbers were between 7,000 and almost 9,000.

However, the rate of positivity, meaning the percentage of all tests taken in the previous 7 days that come back positive, has now risen to 5.1%. At the end of August it was around 3.9%.

SPF figures show 58 new clusters have also been identified and 25 new deaths were recorded in the past 24 hours.

Health minister confirms quarantine rules will be discussed

Despite this French health minister Olivier V茅ran has confirmed that government advisory body the Conseil Scientifique is in favour of reducing Covid-19 quarantines from 14 to 7 days.

. : "Le (...) est favorable 脿 ce qu鈥檕n puisse r茅duire la de mise 脿 l鈥檃bri dans un certain nombre de situations, et de passer de 14 脿 7 jours"
— France Inter (@franceinter)

Mr V茅ran told news source : 鈥淧eople are primarily contagious in the first five days following the appearance of symptoms or a positive test. Then the level of contagiousness goes down very significantly. Beyond one week, it is still there but is very weak.

鈥淩eality shows us that a large number of people in France do not respect quarantine rules. People will stick to the rules better if the time period is reduced. However, this shorter period must be absolutely respected, to limit contagion.鈥�

There is no official data on how many people break 14-day quarantine rules in France. However, newspaper has reported that track and trace authorities in France have found an increasing number of people are doing so.

A reduction in quarantine duration will be discussed by the government on Friday September 11, it has said.

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