The French government will impose a daily nationwide curfew at 6:00 pm starting Saturday to fight the spread of Covid-19, Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Thursday.
The curfew measure will remain in force for at least two weeks, Castex told a news conference.
So far, most of France has been under an 8:00 pm curfew, with some parts of the country, especially in the hard-hit east, already under the stricter 6:00 pm curfew to stem the tide of coronavirusinfections.
Castex said a much-feared infection surge following the year-end holidays had not happened, but said a new lockdown could be imposed “without delay” if the health situation were to deteriorate badly.
The situation in France is “under control”, he said, but still “fragile”.
Schools will remain open, but indoor sports activities have again been banned for now.
Castex also said that travellers arriving in France from non-European Union destinations would have to present a negative Covid test less than 72 hours old, and would have to self-isolate for seven days. They would then have to take a second test.
The coronavirus has claimed more than 69,000 lives in France, the seventh highest death toll in the world.
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