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Restaurant in Paris: curfews for the metropolitan areas
Photo: Kiran Ridley / Getty Images
In view of the skyrocketing numbers of new corona infections, France is going into partial lockdown.
From the weekend, people in Paris and eight other Corona hotspots will no longer be allowed to leave their homes between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Prime Minister Jean Castex rejected exceptions, for example for the cultural sector.
"Everyone has to be at home by 9 p.m.," said Prime Minister Castex about the new curfews for the metropolitan areas of Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Rouen, Saint-Etienne, Grenoble, Toulouse and Montpellier.
There are exceptions for trips to work, medical reasons, walking a dog or caring for a loved one.
There are no exceptions for culture
Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said this would cost the economy less than a nationwide lockdown.
Nevertheless, the classification as a risk area in the French border area with Germany caused unrest.
France's Minister of Culture Roselyne Bachelot had previously described exceptions for cinemas, theaters and concert halls as conceivable and thus raised hopes.
The cultural institutions in the affected cities now have to close at 9 p.m. as well as restaurants.
France reported more than 25,000 new corona infections within one day on Friday evening, the day before it was even more than 30,000.
The number of corona deaths rose by 122 on Friday to a total of 33,303 since the pandemic began.
The new curfews are the toughest measure in France since the end of the nationwide lockdown on May 11th.
During the visit to the Lille University Hospital, Premier Castex emphasized that the government wanted to help the hospitals that were coming under pressure again in the second corona wave.
According to Castex, "almost 40" percent of the intensive care beds at the Lille University Hospital are occupied by corona patients, and in Paris it is even more.
Many hospitals could reach their limits again by the end of October.
A German travel warning "for all of France" will also come into force on Saturday, as the Foreign Office announced.
Only overseas territories such as New Caledonia and French Polynesia are not affected, but the Foreign Ministry "urgently advises against" travel here as well.
The border area with Alsace, Lorraine and the administrative district of Champagne-Ardenne will also be considered a risk area again for the first time since mid-June, as the Robert Koch Institute announced.
This caused uncertainty in the region.
No quarantine when crossing the border
"The borders will not be closed," assured the affected French region of Grand Est.
Baden-Württemberg, Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate also announced that the borders would remain open.
Daily life, work and study should not be "paralyzed by a complete lockdown", declared the Prime Ministers Winfried Kretschmann (Greens), Tobias Hans (CDU) and Malu Dreyer (SPD).
During the first Corona wave in the spring, Germany had largely sealed off the border with France.
According to the three federal states, cross-border commuters are allowed to move "within 24 hours in the border area" without restriction.
The French do not have to submit a negative corona test or go into quarantine to shop in Germany.
For family reunions, visits to the doctor or compelling professional reasons, even 72-hour exceptions are planned, said the French parliamentarian Christophe Arend the radio station France Bleu.
In France, there is no quarantine requirement for travelers from Germany.
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