Paris (AFP)
Prime Minister Jean Castex on Thursday extended the curfew to curb the coronavirus epidemic to 38 new departments and Polynesia, for a total of 46 million people, warning that "much harsher measures" were being considered.
He expects a month of November that will be "trying" with a death toll that will continue to rise due to the second wave of the coronavirus epidemic.
In total, 54 departments will now be placed under curfews from 9:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. as well as Polynesia, where approximately 46 million French people live.
Mr. Castex specified that the departments where the metropolises are located subject to a curfew since last Saturday (Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Rouen, Grenoble, Saint-Etienne, Montpellier and Toulouse) will have to apply it throughout their territory. , Ile-de-France is already concerned.
"The situation is serious" in France, where "the circulation of the virus has reached an extremely high level", warned the Prime Minister.
According to him, the incidence rate, that is to say the number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 inhabitants, increased by 40% in one week, to reach 251 on the national territory.
And the reproduction rate of the virus induces a doubling of the number of cases every two weeks.
The Prime Minister specified that the police force carried out since last Saturday "32,033 checks and pronounced 4,777 verbalizations for non respect of the curfew".
© 2020 AFP