French PM says second wave of virus is here, vastly extends curfew

PARIS » French PrimeMinister Jean Castex announced on Thursday a vast extension of the nightly curfew that is intended to curb the spiraling spread of the coronavirus, saying “the second wave is here.”

The curfew imposed in eight regions of France last week, including Paris and its suburbs, is being extended starting Friday at midnight to 38 more regions and Polynesia, Castex said. It is likely to last six weeks before a review, he said.

Hours after the prime minister announced the curfews, public health authorities reported that France had recorded more than 41,600 new virus cases, a daily high since the country began widespread testing. Figures showed France nearing 1 million cases since the start of the pandemic, with 999,043 as of Thursday evening.

“In France, like everywhere in Europe, the second wave is here,” Castex said at a news conference, adding that “no one is spared.”

The extensionmeans that 46 million of the 67 million people living in France will be under curfews.

The virus is spreading less rapidly during the second wave but more extensively, the prime minister said. The number of cases of COVID-19 has doubled in France in the past 15 days.

“The situation is grave,” Castex said.

The number of cases reported daily recently has f loated around 30,000. However, the count leaped to a new record Thursday, when health authorities reported 41,622 cases in the previous 24 hours. More than 34,200 people have died in France since the start of the pandemic, one of the highest death tolls in Europe.

The prime minister said the national hospital bed occupancy rate is now at more than 44% percent and that four regions, including Paris, have more than half of their intensive care unit beds filled by COVID-19 patients, including the Paris region.

Several other government ministers joined Castex at the news conference as he prepared much of the nation for a stay-at-home life after dark and the need to wear masks outdoors.

France has been using a targeted approach to curb the virus, but some of the regions to go under a curfew have yet to reach alertlevel infection rates. Castex said those areas are being placed under curfew for preventive reasons.

In just one week, the infection rate per 100,000 people has climbed by 40%, he said.