The
French capital of Paris is gearing up for fresh set of restriction including
consideration of a much resisted lockdown to curb the coronavirus infection in
the city after witnessing a dramatic rise in COVID-19 cases on
Thursday. Prime
Minister Jean Castex is slated to announce the new protocols, which could also include a stay-at-home order over the weekend for the 12
million people in the Paris region, reported AFP.

Meanwhile, President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday argued against a third national shutdown stating that enforcement of local restriction may prove more fruitful in containing the spread of the more contagious British variant of the novel coronavirus.

“Let’s be clear, we’re in a third wave mostly down to the rise of this famous British variant, the situation is critical. It’s going to be very hard until mid-April,” Macron said after talks with medical staff and local mayors in the Paris region.

Implementing a lockdown is not going to be an easy move as a significant number of citizens have already been protesting against the restrictions and confining people to their home at such point can give rise to more psychological problems and even violence.

In addition to this, the handling of the crisis will also have a great impact on Macron’s political career as the French  presidential elections are due in  just 12 and opponents are already slamming his record during the pandemic.

As far as the daily COVID tally is concerned, France has stayed constant at around 20,000 new infections a day in the month of February, but new cases
have risen 20% in the last week alone at a national level.

The country’s vaccination drive has also seen a sluggish start with the suspension of AstraZeneca-Oxford jab usage this week in line with many European partners.

France on
Thursday recorded around 38,000 new COVID-19 cases, the highest level in four
months with that another problem of saturated and overwhelmed Paris hospitals comes into question that are witnessing transfer of  patients to other
regions.

Prime Minister Castex is expected to address the media at 7 pm on Thursday.