Coronavirus fears shut down Louvre Museum in Paris

The Louvre museum in Paris has shut down after staff refused to work due to coronavirus fears, just days after Tokyo Disneyland met a similar fate.

The Louvre in Paris has been forced to shut down after staff refused to work due to fears of coronavirus.

Visitors were turned away from the world’s most visited museum on Sunday, local time, after about 300 staff voted “almost unanimously” to not open, AFP reported.

It is not clear when the museum will reopen.

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It comes days after Tokyo Disneyland announced it would close for two weeks as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus, a move that was followed by Universal Studios Japan and Legoland Japan.

The 227-year-old Louvre, near the banks of the Seine river in central Paris, has withstood the French Revolution, Nazi occupation during World War II and near-destruction by fire during the Paris Commune in 1871.

It received 9.6 million visitors last year, most of them foreign tourists, drawn to its massive array of antiquities and iconic artworks, including Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.

People are turned away from the Louvre museum in Paris on March 1, 2020. Picture: Thomas Samson/AFP

Louvre management confirmed the museum was closed for the entire day and said it would refund ticketholders.

“We apologise for any inconvenience and will keep you informed as the situation develops,” the museum said on its website.

Management could not say if it would reopen on Monday.

Disappointed tourists were turned away from the doors of the Louvre as they arrived for a visit, AFP reported.

“We’re very disappointed,” said a tourist in an Italian group who added it had been the “perfect day to go to the museum” due to rain.

The museum was shut on Sunday as about 300 workers refused to work due to coronavirus fears. Picture: Stephane de Sakutin/AFP

“No one warned us and nothing is written on the website,” said their guide, who gave her name only as Stefania.

Other visitors complained that they had reserved tickets for the afternoon that same morning and there had been no hint of the coming closure on the website.

On Saturday, the French Government announced several measures to try to curb the outbreak in France, including cancelling all gatherings of more than 5000 people in confined spaces.

“The Louvre is a confined space which welcomes more than 5000 people a day,” Christian Galani of the CGT labour union, who also works at the museum, told AFP.

“There is real concern on the part of staff.”

Workers met in the morning to discuss these fears, and Mr Galani said management representatives were unable to convince staff to go to work.

They are demanding stepped up protective measures, including the provision of hand sanitising gel and window barriers to separate cashiers from members of the public.

In January, workers also forced a one-day closure in a strike over the Government’s pension reform plans.

Earlier this week, the museum ended a special Leonardo da Vinci exhibition with an all-time visitors’ record of nearly 1.1 million people.

France now has 130 confirmed cases of the virus, the country’s director general of health Jerome Salomon said on Sunday.

Twelve people have made a complete recovery, 116 are in hospital and two people have died.