AMN / WEB DESK
French President Emmanuel Macron ordered a third lockdown across the country on Wednesday as a fresh wave of coronavirus infections looks set to overrun its hospitals. Non-essential stores will be closed nationwide.
In a televised address, Macron said, the British variant was creating a pandemic inside a pandemic that was more contagious and more deadly. A curfew from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. local time, already in place in the worst hit regions such as Paris and the north, will now apply across the whole of mainland France.
Other new measures include a domestic travel ban between regions without an essential reason, and the closure of schools for the next three weeks. The French president initially opted for curfews in the worst hit areas and local restrictions in the hope of giving the economy a chance to recover from a deep slump.
All of France’s restaurants, bars, gyms, cinemas and museums have been closed since October. According to media reports, more than 5,000 patients were in intensive care on Tuesday, the first time in 11 months that the figure has been that high, while daily new infections have doubled since February to nearly 40,000.