Faced with the deterioration of the health situation, the executive announced on Thursday the re-containment of 16 departments.
A decision contested by part of the opposition and traders.
After a favorable opinion from the EMA, several countries are preparing to resume injections with the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Follow the evolution of the situation live.
LIVE
The ax finally fell.
While the health situation is rapidly deteriorating in France, with nearly 35,000 new cases of Covid-19 in 24 hours, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced on Thursday the re-containment of 16 departments, including the eight departments of Ile-de- France, for at least a month.
Banking on the acceleration of the vaccination campaign to get out of the crisis as quickly as possible, the government will once again be able to count on the AstraZeneca vaccine, following a favorable opinion from the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
Follow the evolution of the situation live.
The main information to remember
The government announced a re-containment in 16 departments
The health situation continues to deteriorate
Several countries will resume vaccination with AstraZeneca
The United States will cross the 100 million injections on Friday
Reconfinement in 16 departments
A third of the French will be re-confined on Friday at midnight for at least a month, with travel restrictions and schools open.
16 departments are concerned, for a total of 21 million inhabitants: the eight departments of Ile-de-France, the five departments of Hauts-de-France as well as Seine-Maritime and Eure, and in the south the Alpes-Maritimes.
If the curfew is pushed back from one hour to 19 hours in metropolitan France, these inhabitants will only be able to leave their homes "within a radius limited to 10 kilometers", with a certificate, "without any time limit".
Interregional travel will be "prohibited, except for compelling or professional reasons".
As in the fall, schools and colleges will remain open normally but high schools will all switch to "half-gauge".
For their part, non-essential businesses will have to lower the curtain.
These restrictions will be in place for "four weeks" and may be extended "to other parts of the territory" depending on the evolution of the virus, warned Prime Minister Jean Castex.
Find here the summary of the announcements
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Critics from part of the opposition
Some members of the opposition, but also traders, criticized the government's decision.
"Containment is what we do when we have missed everything," said Marine Le Pen (RN).
"The worm", quipped Jean-Luc Mélenchon (LFI), going so far as to qualify Emmanuel Macron as "the genius of the doggie!".
On the side of traders, Jacques Creyssel, general delegate of the Federation of commerce and distribution (FCD), deplores him that "we are leaving in absurdity with this need, for supermarkets, to cover part of the shelves again" non-essential.
Several countries resume vaccination with AstraZeneca
Several countries including Italy, France and Germany, but also Bulgaria and Slovenia, are preparing on Friday to resume vaccinations with the AstraZeneca vaccine following a favorable opinion from the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
Other countries will get back to it next week, including Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands.
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Like fifteen other countries, France had suspended the use of this vaccine as a precaution after reporting side effects such as bleeding disorders and clot formation.
On Thursday, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) finally deemed it "safe and effective".
The Amsterdam-based European regulator "concluded that the vaccine was not associated with an increased overall risk of thromboembolic events or blood clots."
Norway and Sweden will wait for their side to have carried out their own evaluations next week to resume vaccination, because a Norwegian medical team says they see a link between the product and blood clots observed in patients who have fallen in serious condition, or even deceased, a few days after a first injection.
More than 30,000 new cases
France recorded 34,998 new cases on Thursday, according to government figures.
The test positivity rate has increased slightly to 7.7%.
After a very slight decrease in Covid patients in intensive care on Wednesday, the pressure on these services started to rise again, with 4,246 patients, against 4,219 the day before, a new high since the end of November, according to the health agency, which reports 382 new admissions in 24 hours.
More than a quarter of these intensive care patients (1,201) are hospitalized in Ile-de-France.
The pressure is still on the rise, with 40 more patients on shifts than Wednesday.
With 1,661 new hospitalizations in 24 hours across the country, there are now 25,389 Covid patients in hospitals in France, against 25,314 on Wednesday.
The epidemic has killed 274 in hospital in the past 24 hours, bringing the total toll since the start of the epidemic to 91,706 deaths.
Containment extended until April 6 in Wallis and Futuna
The "strict and controlled" confinement, in force since March 9 for two weeks in Wallis and Futuna, will be extended until April 6 in this Polynesian archipelago where medical reinforcements from Metropolitan France have been sent, the Senior Administrator said Thursday. (prefect).
Free of Covid for a year, Wallis and Futuna detected on March 6 a first case of the disease, which according to ongoing investigations is not patient zero, before the virus spread rapidly.
Thursday, 276 patients were identified including 267 in Wallis and 9 in Futuna.
Eight of them are hospitalized in intensive care.
On Wednesday, 72 caregivers from the health reserve - doctors, nurses, nursing assistants, physiotherapists and health technicians - arrived on site from Metropolis as well as several tonnes of medical freight.
Among these 72 caregivers, however, three tested positive and had to be placed in solitary confinement, the Wallis and Futuna La 1ére television channel reported.
United States: Biden announces that his goal of 100 million injections will be reached on Friday
The United States will cross Friday, more than a month in advance, the target set by President Joe Biden of 100 million injections during the first 100 days of his mandate.
"Now is the time for optimism, but we must not relax," he insisted.
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The rate of vaccination in the United States has accelerated dramatically in recent weeks.
It is currently 2.4 million doses per day on average, down from just under a million when the Democrat took office on January 20.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), nearly 30% of Americans over 18 have received at least one dose.
This figure rises to over 65% for Americans 65 and over.
More than 2.68 million dead
The pandemic has killed at least 2,682,032 people worldwide since the start of the pandemic, according to a report established by AFP from official sources Thursday at 11:00 GMT.
The United States is the country with the most deaths (539,321), followed by Brazil (287,499), Mexico (195,908), India (159,216) and the United Kingdom (125,831).