France threatens to control prices of face masks

A French official is threatening to issue a decree controlling prices of face masks and disinfectant gels used to protect against the virus outbreak if an investigation shows they are being sold at unfairly high prices.

Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire also urges the public to avoid “precautionary shopping” in supermarkets. Some store shelves, notably in the Oise region north of Paris — the center of a virus cluster in France — are empty of staples.

He said he has asked the office of consumer affairs and fraud prevention to investigate prices for masks and alcohol gels. If widespread abuses are uncovered, he said he “will not hesitate” to make high prices unlawful.

France has reported 191 cases of the virus, including three on French Caribbean islands, and three deaths.

— AP