Government spokespersons have warned that new restrictions on the lives of the French will be required to overcome what is being described as a rapidly growing second wave of infections.
A few days ago, the highest death toll since April was recorded in covid-19 in France in one day.
It was October 28 with 525 deaths due to the virus.
The pressure on hospitals is increasing every day.
In the emergency departments, 2,900 places out of a total of 5,800 in the whole country are already occupied.
30,000 new infections are registered every day.
For 55 days this spring, the French, both adults and school children, lived in quarantine.
The restrictions were released this summer, but as new hotspots emerged during the autumn, new local restrictions have been introduced in region after region.
Those restrictions have mainly affected night wipers and bar and café owners.
Believed to take effect within 24 hours
What many fear now is a new national lockdown.
It is known that the government wants to try at all costs to avoid an economic crash and possibly protect certain sectors that are considered vital to the national economy, for example the construction sector.
Restrictions for business people are likely.
Unlike this spring, the schools will probably be kept open, at least in primary school.
Many of the government's covid measures have previously been presented by the Prime Minister or by other members of the government.
The fact that the president himself has now decided to address the nation in a speech shows how seriously he and the government view the situation in France, and possibly also how drastic the new measures may become.
The new measures to curb covids infection are believed to take effect within 24 hours and then last for at least four weeks.