French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday (31/3/2021) ordered France to implement a third national lockdown. He also said schools would be closed for three weeks. This policy was taken as an effort to suppress the third wave of Covid-19 infections in the country.
Macron has been forced to adopt this policy as the death toll approaches 100,000. Intensive care units in the hardest-hit areas are at a breaking point, and vaccine launches are slower than planned.
“We will lose control if we don’t move now,” the president said in a speech broadcast on local television.
Lockdown has been Over A Week
Announcement means that movement restrictions have been in effect for more than a week in Paris. And some northern and southern regions, and will now be in effect nationwide for at least a month, starting Saturday (3/4/2021).
Departing from his promise to protect education from the pandemic. Macron said schools would be closed for three weeks after this weekend.
Macron has been trying to avoid a third large-scale lockdown since the start of the year. However, the former investment banker’s options have narrowed as a more contagious strain of the coronavirus ravages France and much of Europe.
For school children, after this weekend, learning will be done remotely for a week. After that, school was off for two weeks.
After that, kindergarten and elementary school students will return to school while middle and high school students continue their distance learning for an extra week.
“This is the best solution to slowing down the virus,” said Macron, adding that France had managed to open its schools longer during the pandemic than many neighboring countries.
Number of New Covid-19 Infections in France
The number of new daily infections in France has doubled since February to an average of nearly 40,000. The number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care has crossed the 5,000 mark. It’s surpassing the peak reached during a six-week lockdown late last year.
According to Macron, the bed capacity in critical start-up care units will be increased to 10,000.
Quoting the French Ministry of Finance, the risk of a new lockdown could slow down the pace of France’s economic recovery from last year’s slump. The policy will force the temporary closure of 150,000 businesses at a cost of 11 billion euros (US $ 12.89 billion) per month.
The economic downturn in France, the eurozone’s second-largest economy, could also dampen European hopes of bouncing back quickly from the pandemic, as the US and Chinese economies have done.
Macron said the vaccine campaign needed to be accelerated. Until now, only 12% of the country’s population has received the Covid-19 vaccination. One of the reasons for the low number is triggered by a shortage of vaccine supply.
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