Intensive care units, the Achilles heel of France in the COVID-19 battle

Abstract

From January 3, 2020 to January 13, 2021, France reported 2,760,259 cases of COVID-19 with 68,419 deaths [1] and ranked the sixth country. After Ebola and Zika crises, France promoted universal health coverage to achieve global health security [2]. COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates that French initiative was mothballed after the 2017 presidential election. The Defence Council takes decisions during closed meetings without involvement of civil society, local stakeholders or affected populations, and without transparency.