French President, Emmanuel Macron has given reasons for his decision to delay a third lockdown on Saturday.
Macron told the public he wants to see first if other measures wil be enough to stem the tide of the disease as he had faith in their ability to control Covid-19 even as a third wave of the virus spreads and the vaccine rollout faulters.
From Sunday, France will close its borders to all but essential travel to and from countries outside the European Union, while arrivals from within the bloc will have to show a negative test.
Police patrol will increase to enforce the 6. 00 pm curfew in place while large shopping malls will be shut.
With 10 per cent of cases attributable to the more transmissible variant found in Brutain, Medical professionals have recommended a third lockdown and one opinion poll showed more than three- quaters of French people in favour.
Macron tweeted”I have trust in us, these hours that we are living through are crucial.
“Lets do all we can to slow the epidemic together”he tweeted.
His tweet comes as poll showed falling public confidence in the government’s handling of the crisis.
France reported 24,393 new Covid-19 infections on Saturday ,while the number of Covid-19 patients on hospital stayed above 27,000 for a fifth straight day.
The rate of infection is reportedly lower than it was when the last lockdown was ordered in October.
Vaccine rollout is said to be at a slower pace as France’s latest figures showed it had given just 1.45 million vaccine doses so far.making it trail behind other big EU countries.
