PARIS: A return to normal life following the COVID-19 virus outbreak may not occur until 2022 or even 2023, said professor Jean-Francois Delfraissy, who advises the French government.

Delfraissy also told BFM TV on Friday that France could reach around 50,000 new daily COVID-19 cases by the beginning of August.

He had said on Thursday that the fourth wave of new coronavirus infections should hit French hospitals in the second half of August.