France has been forced to shut seven schools over growing concerns over an infestation of bedbugs, the education minister has said.
The French government has held a series of meetings this week to examine surging numbers of reported bedbug cases at a time when France is hosting the Rugby World Cup and preparing to host the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Earlier Friday, the education ministry said in statement to Agence France-Presse that five schools with a total of 1,500 students had been closed.
Earlier this week, authorities announced two schools – one in Marseille and the other in Villefranche-sur-Saone outside Lyon in south-eastern France – had been shut down for cleaning.
A tenth of all French households are believed to have had a bedbug problem over the past few years, usually requiring a pest control operation costing several hundred euros which often needs to be repeated.
But the individual cases have not been confirmed by the authorities and RMC TV reported that a investigation by Paris transport operator RATP had found no bedbugs on its services.
The original article contains 355 words, the summary contains 175 words. Saved 51%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!