Marseille prided itself on faring better than its arch-rival Paris during the early months of the coronavirus outbreak, bragging about how local star virologist and hydroxychloroquine guru Didier Raoult had kept the death toll low. Now, after a summer respite, France’s second-largest city is ground zero of a resurgent epidemic, and is resisting orders from the capital about how to keep the virus at bay.
When French health minister Olivier Véran on Wednesday singled out Marseille by ordering the closure of its bars and restaurants for at least two weeks following a spike in Covid-19 infections, outrage among local officials was instant.
“This decision is unilateral, unfit, and unfair! You think you are being courageous but in reality you are losing your nerve,” tweeted Renaud Muselier, the centre-right president of the regional council, who is planning to…