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Paris is among the 16 regions of France facing new blockades as of midnight tomorrow, the country’s Prime Minister Jean Castex announced.
The measures will be in force for at least four weeks and will be less restrictive than those of last March and November.
Schools will remain open and outdoor activities will be allowed to take place within a 10 km radius of a person’s home.
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Non-essential stores, not including bookstores, will need to close.
Interregional travel will be prohibited and the nationwide night curfew will be delayed by one hour at 7pm local time (6pm GMT).
Jean Castex said he will receive the jab on Friday.
French authorities have done their best to avoid re-imposing the stricter measures, having previously relied on weekend closures and night curfews.
However, the skyrocketing COVID cases, coupled with a slow launch of the vaccine, has forced the government to beef up its strategy.
Comes like France An additional 34,998 COVID-19 cases were reported Thursday, slightly down from the more than 38,000 new infections the day before.
Another 268 people have also died, bringing the country’s total death toll to 91,679.
Speaking Thursday night, Castex said France was battling its third wave due to variants of the virus accelerating transmission across the country.
“The time has come to go further, with tougher restrictions where things are more critical,” he said.
France is also one of almost a dozen European countries that suspend the launch of the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine earlier this week, citing concerns about reports of people developing blood clots after the needle stick.
However, Castex said the launch would resume on Friday afternoon and confirmed that it would also receive the vaccine at that time.
“The AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine it is effective, as the European regulator has underlined, “he said in reference to a previous statement made by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
He added: “It only has relatively rare side effects … it has a positive risk / reward ratio.”
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Emer Cooke, Executive Director of the European Medicines Agency, announces his findings on the vaccine.
The EMA has reviewed data related to concerns about the AstraZeneca vaccine., and on Thursday declared it “safe and effective.”
He said the benefits of getting vaccinated would outweigh the possible risks, noting that the jab was not related to an “overall risk” of blood clots.
Italy, Latvia and Lithuania, like France, have said they will resume their respective launches after the EMA statement, while a decision from Ireland is expected tomorrow; and Sweden and Spain next week.
