The French capital, Paris, is set to go into a month-long Covid-19 lockdown as the country fears a third wave.
A nurse treats a Covid-19 patient at an intensive care unit at the Cochin hospital in Paris. Photo: AFP
Another 15 regions in the country will also be placed under the same measures from midnight on Friday.
These measures will not be as strict as the previous lockdown, Prime Minister Jean Castex said, with people allowed to exercise outdoors.
France has recorded 35,000 new cases within the past 24 hours.
Castex said a "third wave" of infections in the country was looking increasingly likely.
The situation in Paris is particularly worrying with 1200 people in intensive care there, more than at the peak of the second wave in November, Health Minister Olivier Veran said.
The number of patients in intensive care in Paris hospitals, such as Cochin hospital, is worrying authorities. Photo: AFP
Under the new measures, non-essential businesses will be forced to close but schools will remain open. People will be allowed to exercise outdoors within 10km of their home and are not allowed to travel to other parts of the country unless they have a valid reason. Those in the affected areas will have to fill out a form to explain why they have left their homes.
France's nationwide curfew will remain in place.
Fears of a third wave come as the French government faces criticism for its slow vaccine rollout.
From Friday, France will resume vaccinating using the AstraZeneca jab following the European Medicines Agency's announcement that it was fit for use. Castex said he would be getting the vaccine straight away to prove that it was safe.
France had suspended the jab after several reports of blood clots in people who had the vaccine. A survey conducted just as the suspension was announced found that only 20 percent of the French have confidence in AstraZeneca.
- BBC
