France sets curfew and restores state of emergency amid Covid infections
14 October 2020, 20:54
The move is expected to come into force on Saturday.
President Emmanuel Macron has announced that 18 million French citizens in nine regions, including in Paris, will face a curfew starting on Saturday and continuing to December.
He also reinstated the state of health emergency for the country, which ended three months ago. The 9pm curfew is aimed at limiting the resurgent coronavirus amid second wave.
President Macron said: “Our goal is to curb the virus. We must reduce the number of cases per day to 3,000 or 4,000.
“Our goal is to reduce private contacts. What is called the curfew is a measure that is appropriate.”
The curfew will apply to the Paris region and to eight others: Grenoble, Lille, Lyon, Aix-Marseille, Toulouse, Montpellier, Saint-Etienne.
“We won’t go to restaurants after 9pm, we won’t see friends, we won’t party, because that’s how to pass on the virus,” President Macron says.
Patients with Covid-19 occupy a third of intensive care units nationwide.
France has 798,000 confirmed cases and nearly 33,000 deaths.
