France to focus on face masks as it plans €100bn stimulus package           

Newly named Prime Minister Jean Castex arrives for the hand over ceremony at the Prime Minister residence in Paris, Friday, July 3, 2020. French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday named Jean Castex, who coordinated France's virus reopening strategy, as the country's new prime minister as the country focuses on reviving an economy hard-hit by the pandemic and months of strict lockdown.(AP Photo/Michel Euler)

France will not let its guard down against a still-virulent coronavirus but life must return to some kind of normality, the prime minister said, as a senior adviser to the government warned of a second wave in November.

Prime Minister Jean Castex said his government wanted to ensure the French could return to school, get back to work and enjoy a social life “as normally as possible”.

It comes as he confirmed the government’s delayed €100bn recovery plan will be unveiled next week.

Face masks would remain central to the government’s strategy after a surge in the rate of coronavirus infections in recent weeks, he said.

“The worst thing of all would be that we sink because we did not get things moving amid a social and economic crisis,” Castex told France Inter radio.

France has the seventh-highest Covid-19 death toll in the world, with 30,544 fatalities.

Pupils aged 11 and over must wear masks when they return to school on September 1 and masks will be provided for free to those with health risks or from impoverished families.

France has also made it mandatory to wear a mask in workplaces from next week to counter the spike in infections just as employees return from their summer holidays.

Countries across Europe are grappling with how reboot their economies and get the daily lives of citizens as close to normal as possible without accelerating the spread of the virus.

Britain said pupils will have to wear masks in communal areas of secondary schools in Covid hotspots, in a new government u-turn. Germany said it wanted to scrap mandatory free tests for returning travellers because of bottlenecks in laboratories.

Underlining the delicate balancing act, the head of the scientific council advising France’s government said a second wave of the coronavirus could hit in November.

“We may have to toughen measures again,” said Mr Castex, who said local lockdowns would be imposed if needed.

The government’s delayed €100bn recovery plan will be unveiled on September 3, Mr Castex said.

German coalition parties agreed to extend measures to cushion the effects of the coronavirus crisis on Europe’s biggest economy at a cost of up to €10bn, including prolonging a short-time work scheme and freezing insolvency rules.

“Corona remains a reality and a challenge,” said Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, leader of the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) after around seven hours of talks with their centre-left Social Democrat (SPD) coalition partners.

Among the main decisions were an extension of short-time work subsidies, which had been due to expire in March 2021, until the end of next year and prolonging bridging aid for small and mid-sized companies until the end of this year.

Short-time work saves jobs by allowing employers to reduce the employees’ hours but keeps them in work.

Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, a Social Democrat, told public broadcaster ZDF the measures could cost up to €10bn next year.

“The goal now is to stabilise the economy,” said Mr Scholz. “The fact that we acted fast and big has resulted in Germany weathering the crisis much better than other (countries).” The parties also agreed to prolong measures aimed at staving off bankruptcies by allowing firms in financial trouble due to the pandemic to delay filing for insolvency until the end of the year.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government has also brought in a massive stimulus package, worth more than €130bn, that it hopes will help the economy return to growth.