PARIS, France (AFP) — French health workers will get free transport on the country’s high-speed and intercity trains, France’s state rail operator the SNCF announced on Monday.
The rail operator was responding to an appeal by Paris hospitals for people with medical or paramedical training to come and reinforce their staff.
Doctors, nurses and other medical staff will be able to travel for free to help in the fight against the virus, if they get the relevant documentation from their managers, said the head of SNCF Voyages, Alain Krakovitch.
The announcement came a day after the official death toll in France rose to 674, with the first doctor battling the outbreak succumbed to the virus.
With hospitals already overwhelmed with 7,240 cases, the military has stepped in to transfer patients from the worst-hit regions, and set up field hospitals in some areas.
© Agence France-Presse