The French government has declared Paris under maximum Covid-19 alert due to alarmingly high infection numbers, meaning bars and cafés may face a forced two-week shutdown from Tuesday, reports RFI.
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo is to unveil the conditions on Monday. Restaurants look set to remain open under tightened sanitary protocols.
Health minister Olivier Véran announced on Thursday that only improved Covid-19 infection rates could prevent "total closures" of the city's trademark cafes and bars.
France reported a 16,972 new coronavirus cases on Saturday alone, the highest daily number since the country began widespread testing.
Figures from the regional health agency ARS show new coronavirus cases remaining above 250 per 100,000 people in Paris, a threshold triggering the maximum alert protocol which has already hit the southern cities Aix-en-Provence and Marseille and their surroundings, as well as the French overseas territory of Guadeloupe.
"There is no justification for denial," said the ARS director for the Paris region, Aurélien Rousseau, on Sunday. "The numbers are what they are, and they are weighing heavily," he tweeted.