The region around the northern French port of Dunkirk will start enforcing a weekend lockdown from this weekend to halt a spike in Covid-19 infections, health minister Olivier Véran said, reports Yahoo! News.
Véran said the situation in the Dunkirk area was “alarming” and that France would also increase vaccine supplies for the area.
The announcement had been expected, after the infection rate in the area surpassed 900 for 100,000 people, close to nine times the national average.
Infections have reached worrying levels in several other parts of the country, government spokesman Gabriel Attal told reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting.
The warning comes only days after the French Riviera was ordered into lockdown for the coming two weekends to contain Covid-19 which has been spreading faster in the tourist hotspot than elsewhere in France, and border controls were tightened.