Emmanuel Macron has announced that restrictions currently covering parts of France will be extended nationally. Schools will be closed.
President Emmanuel Macron extended light lockdown measures from 19 areas including Paris to all of mainland France from April 3 for 4 weeks at a televised address on the resurgent Covid-19 pandemic on Wednesday. Follow FRANCE 24’s live coverage here.
Macron widened the light lockdown measures currently imposed on a third of the French population – including the Paris region – to all of mainland France. “We don’t have to lock ourselves in but we need to limit our contacts,” he said.
“We tried to push back this day for as long as possible – but unfortunately it has now arrived,” the president continued.
Macron also announced a closure of all schools and day care centres for three weeks until April 26. Yet he also justified his policy of keeping them open since the end of the first lockdown in spring 2020, which has received intensifying criticism over recent weeks: “School is non-negotiable,” he said.
