Amazon threatens to halt all activity in France

Amazon threatened Wednesday to suspend all activity in France after a French court found it wasn't doing enough to protect its workers.

The online giant also announced plans to appeal Tuesday's emergency ruling, which requires Amazon to stop selling nonessential goods for a month while it works out new worker safety measures.

Sales of food, medicine and hygiene supplies are still allowed under the ruling. However, Amazon France said in a statement Wednesday that the decision is so disruptive that it could prompt the company to suspend all activity at its six French warehouses.

The company stressed the importance of its services to the thousands of French companies that sell on Amazon and millions of people around the country who want to have access to products they need during the crisis. Amazon insisted that it is providing adequate security measures for staff, noting the implementation of temperature checks and mask distribution.

But the court found Amazon didn't do enough to enforce social distancing, to ensure that turnstiles and locker rooms were virus-free, or to increase cleaning of its warehouses. Unions say one worker infected with the virus is in intensive care.