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France has extended partial lockdowns to three more areas of the country, bringing to 19 the number now subject to tighter restrictions on movement in a bid to curb the latest surge in the coronavirus pandemic.
Announcing the latest measures, health minister Olivier Véran described the situation in France as “not good”, with COVID-19 cases increasing around the country. More than 45,000 new cases were reported in the previous 24 hours, he said.
The new zones are the Rhône département which includes France”s third largest city of Lyon, plus the Aube and Nièvre in eastern France. The new rules will apply from this weekend.
These follow the Paris area, a large part of northern France and the Alpes-Maritimes in the south, which all had more restrictive measures imposed a week ago, affecting 21 million people, a third of the population.
The French can leave their homes for unlimited periods within a 10-kilometre radius. But people can only meet in groups of up to six, and travel between regions is banned unless for urgent reasons. Most shops are closed but there are exemptions, and schools remain open.
The measures are more flexible and less restrictive than a year ago, when the first lockdown was imposed on the country as the new disease took hold.
The government has again backed off ordering a tough lockdown, despite an increasingly alarming situation in hospitals with a rise in the number of COVID-19 patients.
Earlier on Thursday, French Prime Minister Jean Castex called for people “more than ever to stick together” in the face of an “extremely strong” third wave, during a visit to a hospital in Melun, south-east of Paris.
Questioned on the availability of vaccines for health workers, Castex promised that “the doses are coming, we will have a lot of them in the weeks and months to come.”
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