France Declares State Of Emergency To Battle Second Wave Of Covid-19, Imposes Night Curfew In 9 Cities

President Emmanuel Macron has also announced a curfew between 9 pm and 6 am for as many as nine cities as the country deals with a second wave of coronavirus cases.

French President Emmanuel Macron addresses the nation during a televised interview from the Elysee Palace concerning the situation of the novel coronavirus. (Image: AFP)

New Delhi: In what wake of significant rise in Coronavirus cases, the French government on Wednesday declared a public heath state of emergency in the country. Formally announcing a medical emergency in the country, Government of France in an official statement said that the COVID-19 epidemic was a public health disaster which endangered the health of the population and justified the adoption of strict measures. Additionally, President Emmanuel Macron has also announced a curfew between 9 pm and 6 am for as many as nine cities as the country deals with a second wave of coronavirus cases.

#BREAKING Macron orders 9:00 pm-6:00 am curfew for Paris, eight other French cities pic.twitter.com/fgrr48Tg1T

— AFP news agency (@AFP) October 14, 2020

According to reports, the curfew will come into effect from Saturday and last for at least four weeks. Announcing the strict measure to contain the spread of deadly virus, the government also said that anyone caught flouting the curfew will face a 135 euro fine. The metropolitan areas were the curfew has been imposed are: Paris, Grenobile, Lille, Lyon, Aix-Marseille, St Etienne, Toulouse, Ile-de-France and Montpellier. As per reports, over 22,500 new cases of Coronavirus were reported in France on Wednesday, making it the third time in six days that the daily tally surpassed 20,000-mark. The overall tally of the country has now breached 7,79,000 mark. Meanwhile, the death toll rose by 104 in the last 24 hours, taking the total tally to 33,037. With this, France is now the ninth country in the world to have recorded more than 33,000 Covid-related fatalities. Earlier this week, France Prime Minister Jean Castex warned that the country was witnessing "a strong second wave", saying that "there can no longer be any relaxation" to contain the pandemic. "Nothing is excluded," he said, adding further restrictions may be decided next two weeks "if health indicators deteriorate a lot and resuscitation beds are occupied even more than expected".