People view scenery after snowfall at the Champ de Mars in Paris, France, Feb. 10, 2021. Twelve regions of France were placed on orange alert due to snowfall and ice following a "remarkable snow episode" which hits the country's northeastern departments, the weather agency Meteo France said on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)
PARIS, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- Twelve regions of France were placed on orange alert due to snowfall and ice following a "remarkable snow episode" which hits the country's northeastern departments, the weather agency Meteo France said on Wednesday.
Meteo France noted that the intense cold episode required high vigilance for the most vulnerable and the most exposed to the freezing temperatures.
It decided to maintain the orange alert in these areas till Thursday morning based on the assessment of risks of snow and ice.
Cold and dry weather caused icy temperatures across French regions with thermostats dipping to about minus 10 degrees Celsius, with winds making people feel colder, according to the weather agency.
As the country is gripping with the coronavirus epidemic, cold weather likely to favor the virus spread, warned Pascal Crepey, an epidemiologist.
"When it's cold, we tend to change our behavior to stay more indoors and ventilate less," Crepey told RTL radio early Wednesday. "The air is less renewed and there is a greater risk to contaminate more people."
He recommended continuing to ventilate rooms when possible and respect barrier gestures to limit the risk of virus circulation.
On Tuesday, France reported 18,870 new COVID-19 infections, pushing the country's total cases to over 3.36 million. The cumulative deaths in the country topped 80,000.
