Paris – 31 March 2020

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1. SOUNDBITE (French) Christophe Prudhomme, emergency services doctor and spokesperson for the French Emergency Doctors Association:

"Well, we are dealing with it (coronavirus outbreak) in a degraded way. We are taking risks while we are not protected as much as we should be. We are dealing with patients with delays, and sometimes we have to select patients to choose how to treat them, it's a question of priority."

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2. SOUNDBITE (French) Christophe Prudhomme, emergency services doctor and spokesperson for the French Emergency Doctors Association:

l(Reacting to recent train transportations of COVID-19 patients from regions that have reached capacity, to less crowded hospitals in other regions):

"We need 150 beds for intensive care in Ile-de-France (Paris department) every day, and all the equipment that goes with it. The good sense would want that instead of organising trains for patients to be moved with medical health workers, these trains should be organised to bring us some equipment that's still available in the provinces, and some more healthcare workers to avoid transporting patients. Because the transportation of a patient who is intubated is dangerous."

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3. SOUNDBITE (French) Christophe Prudhomme, emergency services doctor and spokesperson for the French Emergency Doctors Association:

"We are missing a bit of everything, it feels like we are in a third world country. We don't have enough masks, not enough protective equipment, by the end of the week we might be in need of more medication too. And this with a Europe that is useless. Each country barricaded itself, with each country leading its own politics. And we are also seeing a war to get hold of the little equipment coming from Asia, as in France our domestic industries cannot produce the essential equipment needed in a health crisis."

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4. SOUNDBITE (French) Christophe Prudhomme, emergency services doctor and spokesperson for the French Emergency Doctors Association:

"You know, for the past 15 years, us emergency doctors, we are stressing the fact that every winter during the flu season, every summer when temperatures are high, every time there is a long weekend, every holiday, we are facing difficulties to take care of patients in a correct way. Particularly when it comes to patients in intensive care, so when we are in a system that is already under tension during normal times, it's clear that as soon as you have an extra charge it leads to a situation we can qualify as a catastrophe."

A spokesperson for the French Emergency Doctors Association on Tuesday said France's healthcare system is too poorly equipped to ensure the safe treatment of patients during the coronavirus outbreak.

"We don't have enough masks, not enough protective equipment, by the end of the week we might be in need of more medication too," said Dr. Christophe Prudhomme, who works for SAMU, the emergency services system in Paris' northern suburbs.

"We are taking risks while we are not protected as much as we should be," Prudhomme said.

His comments came as French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday visited a protective mask factory and announced he would

inject 4 billion euros (USD 4.47 billion / GBP 3.6 billion) into the National Public Health organisation to place "orders for masks, respirators and medicines".

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks.

For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.