The French government has ordered the closure of all non-essential businesses and told people not to go outside (Picture: LLP)

France has become the latest country to go into coronavirus lockdown, with the government ordering the closure of shops, cinemas, restaurants and cafés from tonight for the foreseeable future.

Prime Minister Édouard Philippe has asked citizens to work from home and to only go outside to buy essential supplies, take light exercise, and vote in this weekend’s local elections.

All non-essential businesses will be closed and although public transport will remain open, Mr Philippe encouraged residents to limit their use, telling them not to travel between towns unless essential.

Speaking at a press conference on Saturday Mr Philippe said: ‘I have decided to close all non-indispensable locations. We must absolutely limit our movements.




‘I am conscious of the efforts and sacrifices that we are asking, but I have faith that the French people will have the capacity to overcome this serious moment.’

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe delivers a speech to announce new measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 (Picture: AFP)

A woman wearing a protective mask walks past the Louvre pyramid in Paris (Picture: Getty)

The country had already banned mass gatherings of over 100 people, suspended sports events and ordered the closure of schools and universities. The tough new measures come after hundreds took to the streets of Paris to demand stronger action to stop the spread of coronavirus.

Despite labelling Covid-19 as France’s ‘biggest health crisis in a century’ President Emmanuel Macron confirmed this week that Sunday’s local elections would go ahead. He faced criticism for this decision as the number of infections soared past 4,000 and the death toll climbed to 91.

Demonstrators filled a Paris neighbourhood calling for coronavirus screening for all and more funding for health services to tackle the outbreak. Protesters with the National Union of Students of France (UNEF) thought measures taken by authorities didn’t go far enough – though some were quick to point out that they disobeyed a nationwide ban on public gatherings by grouping together in protest.

Philippe acknowledged that the French people find the concept of social distancing repugnant, ‘because we are a people that likes to gather, a joyful people, a people that likes to live together… Maybe even more when fear starts to spread’.

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French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe called on the French for ‘more discipline’ in the face of the coronavirus pandemic (Picture: AFP)

A woman rides her bicycle on the Concorde square without car as Parisians are requested by directives issued by French governement to stay at home (Picture: Getty)

But he said: ‘We have seen too many people in cafes and restaurants. In usual times, this would make me happy. Because this is the France we all love. But for a few weeks, this is not what we should be doing,’

The new measures make France the latest European country to go into lockdown, following the likes of Italy, Denmark , Poland and Spain.

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez confirmed a 15-day nationwide lockdown on Saturday as part of state of emergency measures to control the spread of the killer virus. All shops except pharmacies and stores selling basic necessities will be forced to close under the new rules, which came into effect after the number of cases soared by over 1,500 in just 24 hours.

Nearly all countries in Europe have closed schools and several have fully or partially shut their borders, including Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and Ukraine.

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A sign informing people that the Eiffel Tower is closed amid the coronavirus pandemic (Picture:Getty)

People sit on the terrace of a cafe in Bordeaux amid the outbreak of COVID-19, before France goes into lockdown (Picture: AFP)

In Italy, the first European country to go into lockdown, the number of cases jumped by 20% today, with over 21,000 people thought to be infected with coronavirus.



The World Health Organisation (WHO) has criticised the UK’s approach to tackling the pandemic, calling into question the government’s decision to keep British schools open for the time being.

WHO has said that the UK needs to be taking more ‘action’ against the outbreak and that the current ‘herd immunity’ approach may not be wise because not enough is known about the virus at this stage.

Herd immunity happens when enough people become immune to an illness (because they’ve already had it or been vaccinated) that the disease can’t spread anymore, so even people who aren’t immune probably won’t catch it.

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General view of a an empty street in Sevilla, southern Spain (Picture: EPA)

Closed bars in Madrid as the Spanish government declares state of alarm for 15 days (Picture: PA)

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WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘We don’t know enough about the science of this virus, it hasn’t been in our population for long enough for us to know what it does in immunological terms.

‘Every virus functions differently in your body and stimulates a different immunological profile. We can talk theories, but at the moment we are really facing a situation where we have got to look at action.’

Northern Ireland First Minister Arlene Foster has announced schools could be closed for up to four months to stop the spread of the disease. She has been under pressure to follow in the footsteps of the Republic of Ireland, where schools shut this week.

The announcement offers a glimpse of the scale of the crisis yet to come and raises questions about what will happen in the rest of the UK.

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