The French government on Wednesday imposed curfew in Paris and eight other cities from Saturday because of increasing coronavirus cases the nation.
“We have to move and put a brake on the increase of the virus,” President Emmanuel Macron declared on public television, announcing a closedown between 9:00 pm and 6:00 am that will continue in force for as long as six weeks.
Other major French cities such as Lyon, Mediterranean port Marseille and southwestern Toulouse will furthermore require curfews, with throughout 20 million people affected in all, out of a total community of some 67 million.
Just moments before Macron’s speech, his government had declared it would continue a state of a health emergency.
With over one million coronavirus deaths and approximately 40 million cases globally, nations like in Europe that received the first outbreak are freshly standing tough choices on how to handle a new wave without the economic damage wrought by nationwide lockdowns.
In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced more rigorous rules on parties and face mask-wearing.
“I am convinced that what we do now will be critical for how we come through this pandemic,” the leader said.
New infections in Germany stretched to rise Wednesday, expediting past 5,000 cases in 24 hours — a level not seen since a lockdown forced on Europe’s biggest economy in the spring.
“We’re in a situation where I think we can still flatten the exponential extension,” Lothar Wieler, head of Germany’s disease control agency said. “But for that, we all need to make an attempt.”