French President Emmanuel Macron, third right, chairs a meeting concerning the COVID-19 situation in France, Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020 at the Elysee Palace in Paris. (Jean-Claude Coutausse, Pool via AP)
The Associated Press
PARIS (AP) - France is banning all indoor public gatherings of more than 5,000 people to slow its snowballing spread of coronavirus cases and recommending that people no longer greet each other with kisses.
The number of French cases almost doubled, to 100, on Saturday. Of those 86 are hospitalized, two have died and 12 have recovered, said the head of France's national health service, Jerome Salomon.
The cancellation of large gatherings in confined spaces was announced earlier Saturday by Health Minister Olivier Veran after special government meetings that focused on responses to the epidemic.
Having previously recommended that people avoid shaking hands, the minister said they should also cut back on 'œla bise,'ť the custom in France and elsewhere in Europe of giving greetings with kisses, or air kisses, on the cheeks.
The tightened restrictions on public gatherings had an immediate impact. A major four-day trade show in Cannes for property investors was postponed from March to June.
A half-marathon that was scheduled for Sunday in Paris also was cancelled, as was a carnival in the Alpine town of Annecy, Veran announced.
He said other outdoor events and gatherings that might lead to a mixing of people from infected areas could also be canceled.
Public gatherings are being banned completely in the Oise region north of Paris that has seen a cluster of cases, and in a town in the foothills of the Alps that has also seen infections, he said.
The epidemic also impacted the Paris fashion industry and the French capital's Catholic churches.
French designer Agnès b. announced the cancellation of her Paris Fashion Week show, originally scheduled for Monday, 'œin view of the current international health context."
The archbishop of Paris asked priests to change the way they administer communion to prevent spread of the virus.
Bishop Michel Aupetit instructed that priests should no longer put the sacramental bread in the mouths of the faithful and instead place it in their hands.
He also asked worshipers not to drink wine directly from a shared chalice or shake hands at Mass., and requested to have church fonts emptied of holy water.
The bishop's instructions were listed in a statement Saturday from the Paris diocese. It said a Paris priest tested positive for the virus on Friday after returning from Italy.
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Thomas Adamson contributed.
French government and officials including French Health and Solidarity Minister Olivier Veran, left, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, center back, and French President Emmanuel Macron, right, attend a meeting concerning the COVID-19 situation in France, Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020 at the Elysee Palace in Paris. (Jean-Claude Coutausse, Pool via AP)
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Tourists, some wearing a mask, queue to enter the Louvre museum Friday, Feb. 28, 2020 in Paris. . The world is scrambling to get on top of the new coronavirus outbreak that has spread from its epicenter in China to most corners of the planet. Governments and doctors are presenting an array of approaches as the virus disrupts daily routines, business plans and international travel around the world (AP Photo/Rafael Yaghobzadeh)
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French President Emmanuel Macron, left, puts his arm around the shoulder of Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte and gives him a kiss on both cheeks during a joint press conference on the occasion of the first'¯ French-Italian summit in more than two years, in Naples, southern Italy, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
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Tourists, some wearing a mask, queue to enter the Louvre museum Friday, Feb. 28, 2020 in Paris. . The world is scrambling to get on top of the new coronavirus outbreak that has spread from its epicenter in China to most corners of the planet. Governments and doctors are presenting an array of approaches as the virus disrupts daily routines, business plans and international travel around the world (AP Photo/Rafael Yaghobzadeh)
The Associated Press
A hermetically sealed room prepared to receive Covid-19 patients is pictured at the Mediterranean institute of infection of La Timone hospital in Marseille, southern France, Thursday Feb. 27, 2020. One by one, more and more countries are reporting cases of the new coronavirus. Governments and doctors on the front lines are scrambling for solutions and everyday life around the globe is being disrupted in a manner that's not been seen in recent times. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)
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In this Feb. 2, 2020, photo, Polish military personnel wearing protective suits stand on board a military aircraft that was used to transport evacuees from Wuhan, China, at an airport in Marseilles, France. China said Tuesday the number of infections from a new virus surpassed 20,000 as medical workers and patients arrived at a new hospital and President Xi Jinping said "we have launched a people's war of prevention of the epidemic." (AP Photo/Arek Rataj)
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