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Police officers in Paris during the night curfew (archive): almost two thirds of the French affected
Photo: Sebastien Courdji / dpa
As of Saturday, 46 million French people will be affected by the night curfew.
According to Prime Minister Jean Castex, the regulation will then apply in 54 departments and the French overseas territory of French Polynesia.
"The situation is serious, it is serious in Europe, it is serious in France," he said.
Almost 67 million people live in France.
So far, there is already a night curfew in the greater Paris area and eight other cities.
Since the weekend between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m., people have not been allowed to be on the streets there without good reason.
The night curfew is now in effect in the Bas-Rhin department with the Alsace metropolis of Strasbourg or in Corsica.
In addition, almost the entire Mediterranean coast is affected.
"If we don't work together to contain the epidemic, we will have to take tougher measures," said Castex.
There is still time to prevent this - but time is running out.
New Corona app
France also presented its new anti-corona app "TousAntiCovid" on Thursday.
The previous version "StopCovid" was a flop.
The new program should now be a "digital Swiss Army knife" in the fight against Corona, said the State Secretary for Digital, Cédric O.
With more than 32,000 new infections reported within 24 hours, a peak was reached at the weekend.
On Wednesday evening, around 26,600 new infections were registered within one day.
More and more beds are occupied
The situation in the intensive care units is of particular concern: the number of Covid-19 patients is increasing, especially in Paris.
Since the weekend, the health emergency has been in force again, with which the government can enforce extensive restrictions by decree.
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