(Updates with simplified rules, budget)
PARIS, March 20 (Reuters) – Nearly a third of French people entered a month-long confinement on Saturday, with many expressing fatigue and confusion over the latest set of restrictions designed to contain the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus.
The government announced the new measures on Thursday after a jump in the COVID-19 cases in Paris and parts of northern France.
The new restrictions are less severe than those in effect during the spring and November 2020 blockades, raising concerns that they may not be effective.
“It is exhausting, tiring, long. I hope it ends very quickly, although I have doubts about the efficiency of the measures,” said Kasia Gluc, 57, graphics editor on Champs Elysees avenue in Paris.
The Interior Ministry said in the evening between Friday and Saturday that people can leave the house as many times as they want within a radius of 30 km (19 miles), as long as they fill out a declaration.
Later on Saturday, Castex’s office said the rules were simplified and that no paperwork was needed during the day within a 10 km perimeter, just proof of address.
“We need a permit, but compared to previous blocks, we are still much more free to leave. So, are we blocked? Yes and no,” said Antonin Le Marechal, 21.
If time allowed, many Parisians went to the banks of the River Seine for a walk, a bike ride or to get together with family and friends.
“As you can see, everyone is eating, taking off their masks,” said student Rachel Chea, 20. “It doesn’t change anything for me.”
The measures have generated frustration among so-called non-essential store owners forced to close their doors.
Stores that can stay open include those selling food, books, flowers and chocolates, as well as hairdressers and shoemakers, but not clothing, furniture and beauty salons, according to a list released on Friday night.
Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, who said a total of 90,000 stores would need to be closed, defended the list of stores that may remain open, especially those that sell chocolates and flowers just two weeks before Easter.
“I am not saying that this is ideal at all, but each time it is done with a simple logic: to guarantee the health of the French people while preserving economic activity and stores as much as possible,” he told France Inter radio.
The government, which has avoided using the word lockdown to describe the most recent restrictions, argues that the measures are necessary to ease the pressure on intensive care units that are almost overflowing.
A large number of Parisians had left the city before the restrictions took effect at midnight. (Reporting by Ardee Napolitano and Noemie Olivie, written by Sybille de La Hamaide, edited by Christina Fincher)
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