France suspends all flights with Brazil due to virus variant

PARIS, April 13 (Xinhua) -- France has decided to suspend all flights to and from Brazil to contain the spread of the coronavirus variant detected in the South American country, Prime Minister Jean Castex told the National Assembly on Tuesday.

"We observed that the situation is worsening and that is why we have decided to suspend all flights between Brazil and France until further notice," Castex told the lower house of the parliament.

On Tuesday, France reported 345 new coronavirus deaths, taking the cumulative death toll to 99,480.

A total of 39,113 new infection cases were registered in the past 24 hours, taking the national tally to 5.1 million.