PARIS (Reuters) – President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday ordered France into its third national lockdown and stated schools would shut for three weeks as he sought to push back the 3rd wave of COVID-19 infections that threatens to overwhelm hospitals.
With the death toll nearing 100,000, intensive care units within the hardest-hit regions at breaking point, and a slower-than-planned vaccine rollout, Macron was forced to abandon his goal of keeping the nation open to protect the economy.
“We’ll lose control if we do not move now,” the president stated in a televised address to the nation.
His announcement signifies that movement restrictions already in place for more than a week in Paris, and a few northern and southern regions, will now apply to the whole nation for at least a month, from Saturday.
Departing from his pledge to safeguard education from the pandemic, Macron stated schools will shut for 3 weeks after this weekend.
Macron, 43, had sought to avoid a third large-scale lockdown since the start of the year, betting that if he may steer France out of the pandemic without locking the nation down again he would give the economy a chance to recover from last yr’s slump.
But the former investment banker’s options narrowed as more contagious strains of the coronavirus swept across France and much of Europe.
For school-children after this weekend, learning will be done remotely for a week, after which schools go on a two-week holiday, which for most of the country will likely be earlier than scheduled.
Thereafter, nursery and primary pupils will return to school while middle and high school pupils continue distance learning for an extra week.
“It is the best solution to slow down the virus,” Macron stated, adding that France had succeeded in keeping its schools open for longer during the pandemic than many neighbors.
Daily new infections in France have doubled since February to average nearly 40,000. The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care has breached 5,000, exceeding the peak hit during a six-week-long lockdown in late last yr.
Macron stated the vaccine campaign needed to be accelerated. Mired early on in red tape and slowed by supply shortages, it is only now finding its stride three months in, with just 12% of the population inoculated.
Bringing the calendar forward, Macron stated individuals in their sixties would be eligible for a shot from mid-April and those in their fifties a month later. A goal of 30 million adults inoculated by mid-June remained the target, he stated.
Seeking to offer hope, Macron stated the April lockdown and a swifter vaccination campaign would enable the slow re-opening of the nation from mid-May, starting with museums and the outdoor terraces of bars and restaurants, albeit under strict guidelines.
“We will see a way out of this crisis,” Macron stated.
