France
Education minister says ‘cases are increasing’ and ‘immediate response is needed’
Agence France Presse
France is being forced to close seven schools because of growing concerns about bed bug infestations, the education minister said.
“In… I think 17 establishments have had bed bugs discovered at various levels and currently, as I speak to you, seven establishments are closed for this reason,” Gabriel Attal told France 5 television.
The French government held a series of meetings this week to investigate the rising number of reported bed bug cases as France hosts the Rugby World Cup and prepares to host the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Earlier on Friday, the Education Ministry said in a statement to Agence France-Presse that five schools with a total of 1,500 students had been closed.
“Bed bugs do not discriminate”: “Scourge” in Paris raises fears of an international infestation
Earlier this week, authorities announced that two schools – one in Marseille and the other in Villefranche-sur-Saone, outside Lyon in southeastern France – were closed for cleaning.
“We have almost 60,000 institutions and we are only talking about a few dozen, but it is true that cases are increasing,” Attal said. “An immediate response is required so we can address the facilities within 24 hours.”
He said that, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and regional health authorities, a list of “recognized and recognized” companies had been drawn up “so that school principals have contacts and can intervene very quickly.”
A municipal library in the northern city of Amiens is set to reopen on Saturday after being closed for several days after bed bugs were discovered in public reading rooms, the city’s mayor, Brigitte Foure, said.
A sniffer dog found no trace of the pests after treating the library, she said.
It is estimated that a tenth of all French households have suffered from a bed bug problem in recent years, usually requiring pest control procedures costing several hundred euros that had to be repeated frequently.
The blood-sucking insects have been spotted in the Paris subway, on high-speed trains and at Paris’ Charles De Gaulle Airport.
However, the individual cases have not been confirmed by authorities and RMC TV reported that an investigation by Paris transport operator RATP found no bed bugs in its services.
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