President Macron announced 2 weeks ago that France will be undergoing an overdue third national lockdown, which he insisted on delaying sometime in January. Back then he contradicted the recommendations of the country’s health officials and party opposition leaders, preferring to impose strict national measures. Now that the country is experiencing setbacks in COVID-19 vaccine rollouts, a third wave of a coronavirus has been causing more deaths.
President Macron had banked on the vaccine immunization as a means to slow down the infections. However, the opposite happened as the number of ICU patients in the country has exceeded the 5,000 mark even before the new lockdown restrictions were announced. As it is, ICU units in the greater Paris area, Provence-Alpes-Côte-D’Azur, and the northern Hauts-de-France are too saturated and cannot take any more patients.
Overview of France’s Third Lackdown Mandate
The French leader stated that the current restrictions that previously cover ⅓ of the country will now be implemented nationwide for four weeks. Schools have been closed to last for about three weeks. Other restriction measures include limited travel outside the house if not for a professional reason and be confined to a radius of 10km if for practicing sport or getting fresh air. There is no time limit as long as it is done before curfew hours of between 6 am and 7 pm.
The stricter restriction measures also include temporary closure of non-essential shops in the country; of which around 150,000 shops would be affected. However, music stores, bookshops, car dealerships, florists, Easter oblige, chocolate shops, and hairdressers are allowed ro open.