Paris           –              Applause rang out from home windows throughout France on Wednesday night time as housebound residents cheered in solidarity with healthcare staff on the frontline of the coronavirus outbreak gripping the nation.

From Marseille to Paris, individuals took to their home windows and balconies at 8:00 pm sharp (1900 GMT) to applaud in solidarity with the medical employees, some cheering or shining torches, whereas others performed music.  “Long live the medical system!” one girl in Antibes on the French Riviera bellowed.

Elsewhere in Paris, choruses of applause echoed by the night time from condominium buildings — with residents vowing to repeat the night routine all through the lockdown.  France has imposed sweeping lockdown measures, confining tens of millions to their houses for a lot of the day.

Residents are solely permitted to go away with good purpose — and that features legions of nurses, docs and different medical professionals caring for the 1000’s of individuals contaminated with coronavirus throughout the nation.  The confinement measures got here into impact throughout France on Tuesday and are set to final for at the least 15 days.  The nation has greater than 9,100 confirmed circumstances of the virus and 264 deaths.