Leading French medic Pialoux says COVID situation in Paris region is alarming

FILE PHOTO: Infectious diseases specialist Gilles Pialoux poses during an interview with Reuters at the AP-HP Tenon hospital that treats people suffering from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Paris, France, November 5, 2020. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann/File Photo

PARIS (Reuters) - Gilles Pialoux, an infectious diseases specialist at the Tenon hospital in Paris, said on Wednesday that the COVID-19 variant first detected in Britain, more contagious, now represents 39% of new cases of the disease detected in the greater Paris region.

"The situation is alarming," he told BFM TV, adding that, from a strict sanitary point of view, he does not see how France can escape a new lockdown.