France latest to pass an unwanted milestone

Country of 67 million is the eighth nation in the world to reach 100,000 COVID-19-related fatalities

France on Thursday became the third country in Europe after the U.K. and Italy to reach the unwanted milestone of 100,000 COVID-19-related deaths as new infections and deaths surged due to virus variants.

The country of 67 million is the eighth nation in the world to reach the mark after a year of overwhelmed hospitals, onand-off coronavirus lockdowns and enormous personal losses that have left families nationwide grieving the pandemic’s impact.

The moment prompted a message of solidarity from French President Emmanuel Macron.

“Since the start of the pandemic, 100,000 French women and men have succumbed to the virus. We all have a thought for their families, their loved ones, for the children who have lost a parent or a grandparent, the bereaved siblings, the broken friendships,” Macron said on Twitter. “We will not forget a face, a name.”

France added 300 new deaths Thursday to the previous day’s tally of 99,777, bringing the total to 100,077 deaths.

Lionel Petitpas, president of the group Victims of COVID-19 told The Associated Press that the number was “an important threshold.”

After months of people getting accustomed to the virus, the figure “is piercing a lot of minds. It is a figure we thought would never be reached,” he said.

Petitpas, who lost his wife, Joelle, on March 29 last year from the virus, said families of victims “want the government to make a collective gesture to recognize our collective loss.”

Macron told Le Parisien newspaper he thinks about all of the people who died in the pandemic and their families.

The pandemic was “so cruel” to individuals “who sometimes were not able to accompany, during the last moments and in death, a father, a mother, a loved one, a friend,” Macron said. Yet the crisis also shows “the ability of the French people to unite.”

French government spokesperson Gabriel Attal suggested it is too soon to set a specific date to honour those who died as France is now fighting another rapid rise in confirmed cases.

“There will be an homage for sure, a national mourning for the victims of COVID-19,” Attal said Wednesday. “That time will come. Today, we throw all our forces in the battle against the epidemic.”

Experts say the 100,000 mark is an underestimate by thousands. An analysis of death certificates shows that some COVID-19 cases were not reported or patients were not tested when people died at home, or in psychiatric units or chronic care facilities.

France plunged into a third, partial lockdown at the beginning of April, as new infections were surging and hospitals getting close to saturation. The total number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care in France surged past 5,900 this week. Measures include closing schools, a domestic travel ban and shutting most nonessential shops.

An overnight nationwide curfew has been in place since mid-December, and all France’s restaurants, bars, gyms, cinemas and museums have been closed since October.

Schools are set to gradually reopen starting April 26. The government is anticipating that other restrictions will start being lifted around mid-May.

France has reported the most confirmed coronavirus infections in Europe, more than 5.2 million.