The French National Assembly on Saturday voted to extend the state of health emergency until 16 February, an exceptional regime that allows the government to impose restrictions to face the Covid-19 pandemic. The text, passed 71 against 35, is expected in the Senate on Wednesday and is expected to be definitively approved in late November.
On Wednesday, the French Government decided, in the Council of Ministers, to submit to Parliament a document to prolong the state of emergency until February 16 of next year, when new measures could be taken. The state of emergency came into force in France on October 17, for a period of at least one month.
According to the French government spokesman, Gabriel Attal, the text includes the idea that restrictions on circulation and meetings, as well as the early closure of trade, may continue until April of the same year. The curfew has been imposed in several French cities, including Paris, Lyon, Lille, Montpellier, Toulouse and Marseille.
France surpassed on Friday the million confirmed cases of Covid-19 becoming the second country in Western Europe, after Spain, to reach that symbolic number of infections. Experts say the actual number of infections is probably much higher than those officially reported.
In total, France recorded more than 34,000 deaths associated with the new coronavirus, one of the highest numbers in Europe.
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