A partial lockdown already in place in Paris will be extended across the whole of France, President Emmanuel Macron has announced, with schools to close and travel restrictions imposed. It means a nightly curfew and a ban on going more than 10 kilometers from home. The measures are part of the effort to fight the third wave of COVID-19, with the country seeing tens of thousands of cases each day and hundreds of deaths. In a televised address on Wednesday night, in which he warned "the epidemic is accelerating", Macron announced colleges, schools, nurseries, and creches will be closed for three weeks. "If we stay united in the coming weeks...then we will see light at the end of the tunnel," he said. The curfew running from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. remains in place. A debate is scheduled in parliament Thursday that will address the virus situation and the new measures. Paris hospital officials warned last week they would have to start refusing patients in need due to lack of space, a situation in which government spokesman Gabriel Attal said: "One thing is clear: France will not refuse care for any sick patients. Choosing patients is not an option." The French president has been criticized for his reluctance to issue tougher virus measures as infections have soared in the country due to the spread of more transmissible variants. Nineteen areas of France had been put under a partial lockdown in recent weeks, which includes a nighttime curfew. It allows people to leave their homes during the day within 10 kilometers, without a justification form. In the past day, France recorded 30,000 new virus infections and 337 deaths. An expert recently told Euronews that more younger people were now dying from COVID-19. The total number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care in France surged past 5,000 on Tuesday, the first time in 11 months that the figure has been that high. Macron on Wednesday said the numbers of hospital ICU beds will be increased "in the coming days" from the current 7,000 to 10,000. The new measures, therefore, mark a departure from the previous tactic of targeting restrictions to specific areas suffering from high case numbers. A report from France's scientific council of experts had laid out the argument in favor of a strict four-week lockdown during the month of February, emphasizing that it would buy the country time to vaccinate faster and test for new variants. "If the lockdown is delayed by one week, it will require one additional week to reach the objective of 5,000 infections," the scientific council pointed out. They warned that if virus infections were not stemmed "we risk being faced with epidemic peaks similar to those observed in March-April and November 2020." They said that in countries with high levels of the more transmissible variants, the only way to reduce infections was through a tough lockdown. — Euronews
