Six days after curfews came into effect in greater Paris and eight other metropolitan areas, French Prime Minister Jean Castex has announced new measures to stem the spread of coronavirus as cases rise across the country, reports FRANCE 24.
"The second wave is here" and "the situation is grave", Castex said in a news conference on Thursday as he announced the extension of coronavirus curfew measures to 38 more administrative departments throughout France.
The new measures are due to come into effect at midnight on Friday. The prime minister said the curfew would now impact a total of 46 million people, or two-thirds of the French population, and would include some overseas territories.
“Clearly, the weeks to come will be difficult, our hospital services will be put to the test”, Castex said.
The prime minister said the curfew measures would remain in place for six weeks, adding that the situation would be evaluated next week and that curfew rules might be tightened if necessary.
“If we fail to stop the pandemic, we will be facing a dire situation and we will have to envisage much tougher measures”, Castex said. “We still have time to avoid that but we don’t have much time,” he added.
A nightly curfew from 9pm to 6am went into effect at midnight Saturday in Paris and its surrounding administrative departments as well as eight other metropolitan areas — Aix-Marseille, Lyon, Saint-Étienne, Toulouse, Lille, Montpellier, Rouen and Grenoble — in response to daily new infections reaching record levels. Those curfews already affected some 20 million French people.
Residents need to download a certificate for activities permitted after hours – such as travel to or from work, for medical attention, to visit a dependent relative or to walk a dog.