Paris’s Louvre museum closes over staff worries about COVID-19 outbreak

Louvre museum Photograph: VCG

The Louvre in Paris, the world’s most visited museum, turned vacationers away on March 1 after workers refused to work due to coronavirus fears, unions and administration stated.

Round 300 workers met within the morning and voted “nearly unanimously” to not open, Christian Galani of the CGT labor union advised AFP.

By that afternoon, guests had been studying the information as they arrived on the entrance.

“We’re very disillusioned,” stated one vacationer, a part of an Italian group.

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“It was the proper day to go to the museum,” he added beneath a gradual drizzle of rain.

“Nobody warned us and nothing is written on the web site!” stated their information, who gave her identify solely as Stefania.

Others complained that that they had reserved tickets for the afternoon that very same morning and there had been no trace of the approaching closure on the web site.

The Louvre, close to the banks of the Seine river in central Paris, acquired 9.6 million guests final yr. Most of them are foreigners together with People, Chinese language and Europeans.

Louvre administration later confirmed the museum was closed for the complete day, and stated it might refund ticket-holders.

“We apologize for any inconvenience and can preserve you knowledgeable because the scenario develops,” the museum stated on its web site.

On February 29, the federal government introduced a number of measures to attempt to curb the outbreak in France, together with canceling all gatherings of greater than 5,000 folks in confined areas.

“The Louvre is a confined area which welcomes greater than 5,000 folks a day,” stated Galani, who additionally works on the museum. “There are actual concern from workers.”

Employees met within the morning to debate these fears, and Galani stated administration representatives had been unable to persuade workers to go to work.

They’re demanding stepped up protecting measures, together with the supply of hand sanitizing gel and window obstacles to separate cashiers from members of the general public.

In January, employees additionally compelled a one-day closure in a strike over the federal government’s pension reform plans.

Earlier this week, the museum ended a particular Leonardo da Vinci exhibition with an all-time guests’ document of practically 1.1 million folks.

France now has 130 confirmed circumstances of the virus, the nation’s director common of well being Jerome Salomon stated on March that 1: 12 folks have made a whole restoration, 116 are in hospital and two folks have died.