Tens of thousands of extra police and gendarmes are being posted across France to ensure people respect the coronavirus lockdown during what would traditionally be the grand départ for the Easter holidays on Friday, reports The Guardian.
Checkpoints are being set up on all major roads and motorways out of towns and cities with orders to turn back those attempting to break the rules.
Officials in areas popular with holidaymakers, or where there are high proportions of second homes, have also been ordered to carry out checks to ensure there is no sudden influx of visitors.
“The virus is not on holiday,” said the French prime minister, Édouard Philippe, in a televised address on Thursday evening.
Philippe was echoing the interior minister, Christophe Castaner, who hours earlier warned: “Absolutely do not go on holiday during the lockdown period … People must remain confined. Any abuse will be punished.”