French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday (Mar 31) ordered France into its third national lockdown and said schools would close for three weeks as he sought to push back a third wave of Covid-19 infections that threatens to overwhelm hospitals.
French schools will close for at least three weeks as part of new national restrictions to fight rising Covid-19 cases, President Emmanuel Macron says.
Mr Macron said that schools would move to remote learning from next week.
Lockdown measures, introduced in some areas of France earlier this month, are also being extended to other districts.
All non-essential shops are to close from Saturday and there will be a ban on travelling more than 10km (six miles) from home without good reason.
The country is facing a peak of over 5,000 people in intensive care.
On Wednesday, the country's health ministry reported 59,038 new cases. France has so far reported more than 4.6 million cases of coronavirus and 95,495 Covid-related deaths.
