France gives cities power to require face masks; mandate imposed in Lille

FILE PHOTO: People, wearing protective face masks, walk inside the Westfield Forum des Halles shopping centre in Paris as France enforces mask-wearing in enclosed public spaces as part of efforts to curb a resurgence of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) across the country, July 20, 2020. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

PARIS (Reuters) - France gave local governments the power on Friday to make the wearing of face masks compulsory in public, and a mandate was imposed in the northern city of Lille, as the country fights a resurgence of COVID-19 cases.

The seven-day average of new coronavirus infections in France has moved above 1,000 per day for the first time since the first half of May, when France began lifting a nationwide lockdown. Officials hope local measures can prevent a second wave of infections without disruptive nationwide action.