A nurse in France was attacked by two teenagers in a bus on the outskirts of Paris, after asking them to wear masks in accordance with national guidelines during the ongoing outbreak of coronavirus.
The woman was kicked and grabbed by two 16-year-olds on Tuesday, according to police. She suffered superficial injuries after the incident, which took place in Neuilly-sur-Marne, and was five days away from work, Reuters reported.
The teens were arrested and their detention was extended for another 24 hours on Wednesday, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Wearing a face mask in enclosed public spaces has been mandatory in France since July 21st. From 10 August, those aged 11 and over in Paris will also be required to wear a mask in busy open areas the following month.
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Those who violate the mask mandate will be fined $ 159 (€ 135) and those who violate the order more than three times a month will face up to six months in prison, Reuters reported.
Paris is among several other French cities, including Toulouse, Lille and Biarritz, where face covering is required in outlying areas.
Last month, a bus driver died in the town of Bayonne in southwestern France after an attack by five people after he tried to stop her from wearing a board without a mask.
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The group was said to have hit the bus driver repeatedly as he tried to prevent them from entering the bus and was hit in the head by one of the attackers after he got off the bus.
The bus driver was pronounced brain dead by doctors after he entered the hospital unconscious and died days later.
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Last week, three people were arrested in the northern Parisian city of Soisy-sous-Montmorency after a man was attacked at a laundromat after he asked a customer to respect the mask obligation at the establishment.
The customer was reported to have hit the man several times with a stick. The incident, which was captured on surveillance cameras, was described as “irresponsible” by French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, Reuters reported.
Fears of a second wave of the new outbreak of coronavirus in Europe remain, with several European countries having a recent rise in new infections, including France.
French Prime Minister Jean Castex warned this week that the outbreak in France over the past two weeks has been “the wrong way”.
Weekly total of cases in France have increased since the week beginning June 22, according to the World Health Organization. The seven-day rolling average of daily new infections has grown on a sharper trend around July 22, according to Worldometer.
More than 20.6 million people worldwide have been infected since the virus was first reported in Wuhan, China, including more than 5.2 million in the US. More than 12.8 million worldwide have been reported from the infection, while more than 750,300 died as of Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The image below, provided by Statista, illustrates a comparison of average new cases in the US and the European Union.
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