Paris will shut all bars completely from Tuesday as the French government raises the city’s coronavirus alert to maximum following a sustained period of high infection rates.
Full detail of the new restrictions will be announced on Monday and will last for two weeks, the office of Prime Minister Jean Castex announced.
On Sunday France reported 12,565 cases of Covid-19.
It comes after the city of Marseille closed bars and restaurants last week.
The maximum alert level in France comes into force when the infection rate in a locality exceeds 250 per 100,000 people and at least 30% of intensive care beds are reserved for Covid-19 patients.
“These measures, indispensable in the fight to curb the virus’ spread, will apply to Paris and the three departments immediately surrounding it, for a duration of two weeks,” the prime minister’s office explained.
Restaurants in the city will have to put in place new sanitary arrangements in order to stay open and university lecture halls must be no more than half-full.
But restaurants and bistros that serve food as well as alcohol can stay open, as long as they register contact details from customers and shut their doors at 22:00.
Working from home must be prioritised “now more than ever”, the statement said.