PARIS: As late-night shoppers have continued to throng Parisian stores selling takeaway drinks and food amid a new national lockdown, the city’s mayor announced on Thursday that some will be forced to close at 10:00pm to prevent coronavirus-spreading gatherings.
Restaurants and bars are already shuttered under stay-at-home orders that entered into force for a month last Friday, but takeaways are allowed and supermarkets, specialist food stores and night shops remain open, along with other businesses offering “essential” services.
“Faced with the worrying health situation, to avoid gatherings, I have agreed to a request from the police department to close some places that sell takeaway food and alcohol from 10:00pm,” Mayor Anne Hidalgo said on Twitter.
She told BFM television that several gatherings at such establishments have been reported even as France, and Paris in particular, is dealing with a fast-growing second wave of coronavirus cases.
On Wednesday, the public health agency said there had been more than 40,500 new infections in 24 hours and 385 deaths in hospital — a figure that excludes deaths at care homes, which are reported sporadically.
The overall French death toll now stands at 38,674, with 4,089 people in intensive care, out of 6,400 beds available nationwide. About a quarter of intensive care cases are in the greater Paris region.
The new lockdown allows people to leave home only to go to the office, if working-from-home is not possible; to go to the doctor; exercise outdoors; drop children off at school; or do essential shopping. A self-signed permission slip is needed for each excursion, or an electronic version on the government’s Tous AntiCovid contact tracing app.
Hidalgo’s announcement came after confusion earlier in the week when government spokesman Gabriel Attal announced a new curfew for Paris, on top of the lockdown, which was quickly denied by the prime minister’s office. — AFP
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