Emmanuel Macron orders third national lockdown amid COVID surge in France, schools closed

France on Wednesday ordered a third nationwide lockdown for a month, including in Paris amid the recent surge of coronavirus cases. In a televised address on March 31, the French President announced the immediate closure of all schools and non-essential businesses, issuing home confinement orders, extending the previously enforced 7 pm curfew to tougher restrictions.  “We don’t have to lock ourselves in but we need to limit our contacts,” Macron told the French population. “We tried to push back this day for as long as possible – but unfortunately it has now arrived,” he continued. “We will lose control if we do not act now,” Macron stressed. 

France’s lockdown across all of the mainland and grounding of domestic air travel comes as the country recorded 41,907 new cases of COVID-19,  and 303 new deaths on March 31, according to the ministry of health data. In his televised speech Macron stated that the rising trajectory of the variant cases across several states in France was essentially “a new pandemic” within a pandemic. “No region in France is now spared, and 44 percent of intensive care patients are now under 65 years old, ” said the French President. Reassuring French citizens that the stringent measure was the only way to protect the younger healthier people from the disease, France President said: “We must not give in to panic and denial. In order to continue to protect our way of life in the present, we must each go the extra mile for the months to come. This is what I am asking of you collectively this evening to adhere.” 

Cases rising at 'exponential pace'

The lockdown effective immediately on April 1 comes as the new highly infectious SARS-CoV-2 variant third wave, as what is described worse than the wave last year when France imposed its first lockdown, is hitting the country. Last year on October 28, France had resorted to similar countrywide closure as French President Emmanuel Macron declared, “If we don’t put a brutal brake on the transmissions today, our hospitals will be saturated,” as the hospital admissions pushed healthcare to the brink of its maximum capacity. Only last week, French health experts and scientists had warned that France was “hitting the wall” in being able to stem the pandemic as the country was registering 20,000 new Covid cases per day on a weekly average. The cases have increased by 27 percent, rising at an exponential pace since last week.