France to Close Paris Bars as Covid-19 Cases Spike, AFP Says

(Bloomberg) --

The French government is planning to shut down bars in the Paris region and impose other new restrictions in the area as the country struggles to contain a spike of new coronavirus cases and avoid a second nationwide lockdown, according to Agence France Presse.

Paris and its inner suburbs will be declared a maximum alert zone on Monday, then the measures will go into effect Tuesday to last 15 days, AFP reported late on Sunday, citing a statement from France’s Prime Minister’s Office.

The benchmarks for French cities fall under local virus-alert criteria set out last month by President Emmanuel Macron’s government, which says it doesn’t want a second nationwide lockdown.

France’s virus cases increased the most in Europe over the past two months and monthly virus-related deaths tripled in September. The country reported a record number of laboratory-confirmed new cases on Saturday.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.