French President Emmanuel Macron sought on Saturday to win over Italians, saying in an interview with Italy’s leading newspapers that France was there to help as the country recorded its highest one-day death toll from the coronavirus pandemic.
“France is alongside Italy,” Macron said in the interview with Italian newspapers La Repubblica, Corriere della Sera, and La Stampa, a day after Italy logged its worst one-day death toll yet – recording 969 new deaths.

France and Germany have both come under fire for initially declining to provide Rome with face masks and other equipment to help it handle the outbreak.