Yahoo News France 'headed for national lockdown' as Emmanuel Macron addresses nation tonight
French President Emmanuel Macron could set out plans for a new nationwide lockdown later today after a huge spike in Covid-19 deaths.
Mr Macron is due to make a televised address at 8pm when it is widely reported that a new month-long national lockdown could be imposed.
Other possibilities include a host of local measures, a weekend lockdown and tighter curfews from 7pm extended.
Two-thirds of the French population are currently under a nighttime curfew but the PM is reported to have told union bosses these were not enough to control the surge in infections, which on Sunday hit a record of over 52,000 cases.
Mr Macron's office would not confirm new lockdown measures would be imposed ahead of the briefing.
France has had a big spike in the number of daily deaths from Covid-19, recording an additional 523 deaths in 24 hours this evening, the highest daily death total since April.
"We knew there would be a second wave, but we have been shocked by the brutality of what's happened in the last 10 to 15 days," said Jean-François Delfraissy, President of the Scientific Council set up to advise the government on their Covid-19 policies.
Speaking on a visit to a hospital in the Paris region last week, Mr Macron said scientists were telling him that they believed the virus would be present "at best until next summer".
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National lockdown calls grow amid fears of 'deadlier' second peak-LIVE
