France heads towards national lockdown due to covid-19

French President Emmanuel Macron will announce tonight, during a live TV speech to the nation, new measures to counter the advance of covid-19, which in France has reached a very worrying level of diffusion, defined by many experts as "out of control".

In just a few weeks, new cases of covid in France have exploded. On Sunday, coronavirus infections in France reached a record high of over 52,000 new cases in a single day.

Also read: Italy orders bars and restaurants to close early amid covid-19 surge

Meanwhile, two-thirds of the French population has been subject to a night curfew, but according to press reports, Prime Minister Jean Castex is not satisfied and has asked the unions to accept the lockdown because the curfew alone is not having the desired effect.

Also read:  Germany updates its covid-19 quarantine list

The measures put in place so far, such as mandatory masks in workplace and outdoors in most cities, bar closures and night curfews, have failed to stop the second covid-19 wave that has hit Europe.

Macron will most likely impose a new nationwide blockade across the country to try and stop the second wave of Covid infections.