France will strengthen border controls and bring forward its night curfew by two hours to 6 p.m. for at least a fortnight as it tries to slow the spread of coronavirus infections, the government said on Thursday, Trend reports citing Reuters.
France has the seventh highest death toll in the world and the government is particularly worried by the more-transmissible coronavirus variant first detected in Britain, which now accounts for about 1% of new cases.
The revised curfew will come into effect on Saturday. From Monday, all people travelling to France from outside the European Union will have to show a negative COVID-19 test and self-isolate for a week upon arrival.
A new protocol for EU countries will be worked on ahead of a European summit on Jan. 21, Prime Minister Jean Castex told a news conference.
“We must do everything to prevent this variant from spreading and ensure that it does not become the dominant variant,” Castex said.
The epidemic has killed nearly 70,000 people in France. Pressure on the hospital system remained high but was not getting worse, the prime minister said.