French prime minister Jean Castex promised on Saturday that the government would "go all out on vaccinations" and would not immediately end government aid for the restaurant sector once they can reopen, reports Euronews.
"We have one month, a month and a half to two very sensitive months," Castex told a restaurant owner amid his visit to the centre of the country.
The more transmissible variant of COVID-19 that was first detected in the UK rapidly has become the main strain of the virus in France over the past few weeks.
"This variant risks driving us back, I'm not sure, possibly to lockdown," Castex said, emphasising that it meant speeding up the rollout of coronavirus vaccines in March and April.
France locked down in late October of last year and has had a nightly curfew since emerging from its second lockdown.