FRANCE HAS BECOME the latest European country to toughen Covid-19 controls, imposing a curfew in Paris and eight other cities.

Major cities like Lyon, Marseille and Toulouse are among those that will also see curfews imposed as the government announced it would prolong a state of health emergency.

In a televised interview, President Emmanuel Macron said residents of affected cities would not be allowed to be outdoors between 9.00pm and 6.00am from Saturday, for a duration of at least four weeks, except for essential reasons.

“We have to act. We need to put a brake on the spread of the virus,” Macron said, adding the measure would stop people visiting restaurants and private homes in the late evening and night.

“We won’t be leaving the restaurant after 9.00 pm,” he continued. “We won’t be partying with friends because we know that that’s where the contamination risk is greatest.”

Anyone found to be outdoors during the curfew without special authorisation would face a fine of €135.

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“We are in a worrying situation,” Macron said, while insisting France had not “lost control” of the virus and a second full lockdown, like the two-month measure earlier this year, would be “disproportionate”.

© AFP 2020