By Martin Cole-
French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Wednesday that locals in Paris and eight other cities will be subjected to a mandatory curfew from 9:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m.
The restriction comes into force on Saturday, and will last for at least four weeks. It will mean residents will not be able to go to restaurants or private homes during these hours.
Macron said on national television: “We have to act. We need to put a brake on the spread of the virus.”
The new measures will also extend to the cities of Grenoble, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Rouen, Saint-Etienne and Toulouse.
“We won’t be leaving the restaurant after 9:00 p.m.,” Macron said. “We won’t be partying with friends because we know that that’s where the contamination risk is greatest.”
Those who breach the new rules will face a fine of €135 ($159).
“We are in a worrying situation,” he continued, while insisting France had not “lost control” of the virus.
The new measures are intended to curb the spread of the virus in France and get a grip on a recent surge in new cases.
On Wednesday, health authorities announced that more than 9,100 patients were currently in hospital being treated for COVID-19, the highest figure since June 25, leading some experts to suggest the country’s medical system is on the verge of being overwhelmed.
The public health state of emergency was made in a bid to curb an uptick in coronavirus infections across the country.
The formal declaration was made in a statement by the government, stating that the pandemic was a public health disaster which endangered the well-being of the entire population.
France was facing “a health catastrophe,” according to minutes from a Cabinet meeting that took place on Wednesday.
The state of health emergency is a legal framework allowing the government to take a stricter line on fighting the spread of infections.
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