PARIS • The French government is recommending that surgical masks be worn in public because they offer better protection from Covid-19 transmission than fabric coverings, Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Thursday.

France requires masks to be worn in public places, but until now has not made recommendations about the type of masks.

The authorities are worried France could be hit by new, more contagious variants of the virus. "The recommendation that I make to the French people is to no longer use fabric masks," Mr Veran told French broadcaster TF1.

He also said it was very unlikely restrictions on ski resorts would be lifted next month. That effectively rules out a return to skiing in time for the February school holidays, usually the last peak skiing period of the season.

Mr Veran said the government could not rule out a tightening of coronavirus restrictions if the situation with virus transmission deteriorates. "We could be forced to take tougher measures than those that the French people dealt with this autumn... That could go as far as a lockdown if the situation were to require it," he said.

France has reported more than 71,000 deaths related to coronavirus since the pandemic began. It is now at 35 per cent of its peak infection rate, according to Reuters data, well below its neighbour, Britain, at 70 per cent.

French schools are still open, and non-essential shops are allowed to trade. However, French public health officials say they have detected a rise in transmission rates in the past few days and are also wary of the spread of new, more contagious variants of Covid-19 which are prevalent in other countries.

REUTERS