France may need to impose new local restrictions to cope with a worsening Covid-19 situation as it struggles to avoid another national lockdown, a government spokesman said on Wednesday.
In several parts of the country, infections have reached alarming levels, spokesman Gabriel Attal told reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting.
The warning comes just days after the French Riviera was ordered to keep closed for the next two weekends to contain Covid-19, which has spread faster in the tourist hotspot than elsewhere in France, and border controls tightened.
Attal said similar steps could be needed elsewhere because of “a worsening situation” that he says “requires rapid and strong action”.
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 contamination rate for 100,000 people was over 900, nearly nine times the national average.
As on the Riviera, the approximately 250,000 people in the city and surrounding area would only be allowed to leave their homes for specific authorized reasons, said Veran, calling Dunkirk’s contamination level “alarming.”
But the list can get even longer: About 10 of France’s 102 territorial areas known as departments were now in a “very worrying situation,” Attal said.
“We must continue all our efforts to avoid imposing another national lockdown,” he said.
There was “clearly” no assurance 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 on Thursday to update the country on the situation in Covid, Attal said.
burs / jh / gd