COVID-19: France announces second lockdown

President Emmanuel Macron announced on Wednesday that travels between regions will be banned during the lockdown while only essential services will be allowed to continue.

The lockdown followed a record number of new coronavirus cases in the country after initial measures to slow the spread of the virus were relaxed.

Jean-François Delfraissy, a top official and adviser of the French government, was said to have described the second wave of the pandemic as “fatal.”

“We are in a difficult, even critical, situation. We foresaw a second wave but we are surprised ourselves by the brutality of what has happened over the last 10 days,” he said.

“The second wave will probably be worse than the first. Many people still haven’t realised what is waiting for us. This wave is invading Europe… will last several weeks, even one or two months.”