France may need to impose new local restrictions to deal with the worsening situation in Covid-19 as it struggles to avoid a new national blockade, a government spokesman said on Wednesday.
Infections have reached worrying levels in various parts of the country, spokesman Gabriel Attal told reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting.
The warning comes just days after the French Riviera was condemned to blockade over the next two weekends to contain Covid-19, which has spread faster at the tourist spot than anywhere else in France, and border controls were reinforced.
Attal said similar moves may be needed elsewhere because of “an increasingly worse situation”, which he said “requires quick and strong measures”.
Within hours of that warning, Health Minister Olivier Veran said the northern coastal city of Dunkirk would also be closed on weekends until further notice, after the infection rate went from 900 to 100,000 people, almost nine times the national average.
As on the Riviera, the approximately 250,000 people in the city and the surrounding area would be allowed to leave their homes only for specific authorized reasons, said Veran, calling Dunkirk’s infection rate “alarming”.
But the list could go even further: about 10 of France’s 102 territorial areas known as departments are now in a “very worrying situation,” said Attal.
“We must continue all our efforts to avoid imposing another national blockade,” he said.
There was “obviously” no certainty that such a drastic measure could be avoided, he said, warning that the government would not hesitate to order such a move if deemed necessary.
Prime Minister Jean Castex will hold a press conference to update the country on Covid’s situation on Thursday, said Attal.
burs / jh / gd