France considers third national lockdown

Paris may impose measure if Covid-19 case numbers continue to rise

A woman wearing a protective mask, walks near Arc de Triomphe following France's Prime Minister announcement to close most all non-indispensable locations, cafes, restaurants, cinemas, nightclubs and shops as France grapples with an outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) disease, in Paris, France, March 15, 2020. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes     TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
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France has not ruled out imposing a third nationwide lockdown if coronavirus case numbers continue to rise, its health minister said as the country braced for a possible post-Christmas surge.

"We will never exclude measures that are necessary to protect the public," Olivier Veran told the Journal du Dimanche.

"That is not to say we have made a decision but that we are watching the situation hour by hour."

France has been registering about 15,000 new infections a day, and on Friday confirmed the first case of a new coronavirus variant that recently emerged in Britain.

The strain, which experts fear is more contagious, prompted more than 50 countries to impose travel restrictions on the UK.

After a snap 48-hour ban on UK arrivals this week, France has reopened its borders, partly to allow its citizens to return home but also to relieve the massive build-up of freight goods.

On Saturday it took delivery of the first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine that it will use in its mass inoculation campaign.