Macron announces school closures and defends strategy

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday announced nationwide school closures and a limited lockdown while defending his controversial strategy to confront soaring Covid-19 infections.

The 43-year-old leader has been under fire from political opponents and many health experts in recent weeks as the rampant virus left hospitals in hotspots such as Paris overwhelmed.

At the end of January, Macron bucked the European trend and went against the recommendation of his scientific advisers by deciding that France would not enter a third lockdown.

In an address to the nation, he tightened restrictions significantly on Wednesday, ordering schools shut down, travel restrictions across France, and the closure of non-essential shops around the country.

But he stopped short of demanding people stay in their homes or avoid socialising completely, and authorised people to move between regions over the upcoming Easter weekend.

"We have adopted a strategy since the beginning of the year that aims to contain the epidemic without shutting ourselves in," he said.

Not locking down in January meant "we gained precious weeks of liberty, weeks of learning for our children, we allowed hundreds of thousands of workers to keep their head above water, without losing control of the epidemic," he argued.

The question in the coming days will be whether the new measures are enough to reverse the sharp rise in infections which have been running at more than 40,000 a day, double their level at the beginning of the month.

More than 53,000 new cases were announced late Wednesday, but that number covered two days after no numbers were made public on Tuesday.

The country also recorded 304 new deaths, bring its total toll to 95,667.

With warm weather and sunshine on Wednesday, groups of young people could be seen congregating in public spaces around Paris, ignoring rules barring the consumption of alcohol outside.

Ahead of Macron's address, the French Hospitals Federation (FHF) had urged him to order "a strict lockdown immediately."