France clamps down after record daily coronavirusisations

France clamped down on after a record daily increase in coronavirus infections on Friday as the government tightened social distancing guidelines introduced at the start of August but failed to control the spread of the virus, a rise that prompted localised lockdowns in some quarters.

Authorities shut down cafes and bars with more than 50 confirmed cases on Friday, as well as half of France’s total of 1, 000 infections, after seeing infections in those regions spiking over the previous two weeks. The figure also surged in the southern region of Toulouse.

Health Minister Olivier Veran told a briefing he would introduce more measures for the reduction of the magnitude of the virus outbreak in France, saying it would start to moderate and perhaps become intermittent. France had been thought to have avoided a major spike in coronavirus infections.

Health Minister Agnes Buzyn told BFM television he would give an analysis by Monday of the type of the virus emerging in France and whether it was spreading more slowly or form clusters.

Spikes in cases in France in recent weeks have raised concerns about the possibility that the disease could spread too easily in later weeks, after which Noscidion, one of the regions worst-hit by the virus, would begin to form cluster clusters.

Veran told reporters he would do this once more.

“We need more time or else we’ll have to end the expansion of the epidemic even more slowly, ” he said.

Asked when he might do this, he said: “I’m not ready to say. But it will be reality between now and the middle of next week. ”