France extends coronavirus ‘stay-at-home’ lockdown order until at least April 15

France extends coronavirus ‘stay-at-home’ lockdown order until at least April 15
March 27, 2020, 6:04 pm

A woman sits on a metro car on March 20, 2020 in Lyon on the fourth day of a strict lockdown to stop the spread of COVID-19, caused by the novel coronavirus. (AFP)

France is extending by two weeks until at least April 15 its stay-at-home order for all people to curtail the coronavirus outbreak, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said Friday. France extends coronavirus

President Emmanuel Macron had ordered people in France to stay at home from March 17 for two weeks for all but essential tasks. But the scale of the epidemic in the country had made it inevitable that the lockdown would be extended.

“In agreement with the president, today I’m announcing the renewal of the confinement period for two more weeks,” Philippe said at the Elysee presidential palace.

“Obviously this period will be extended again if conditions require it,” he added. The additional two weeks from April 1 means it would now expire on April 15.

Philippe said that lockdown measures were well respected in general, but the few who violate them “will be severely punished as this concerns the health of all of us and, especially, the most fragile.”

He also warned that “after the first ten days of confinement it is clear that we are still just at the start of this wave of epidemic.” France extends coronavirus

French authorities said on Thursday that 365 people had been killed by COVID-19 over the previous 24 hours, France’s highest daily toll, taking the national total of those who have died in hospital to 1,696. levant

source: AFP levant

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