France may impose third national lockdown if Covid cases continue to rise

"That is not to say we have made a decision, but that we are watching the situation hour by hour."

France has been registering around 15,000 new infections per day, and on Friday confirmed the first case of a new coronavirus variant that recently emerged in Britain.

Coronavirus pandemic: France begins rolling out vaccine campaign

 

The new strain, which experts fear is more contagious, prompted more than 50 countries to impose travel restrictions on the UK

Following a snap 48-hour ban on UK arrivals this week, France has reopened its borders -- partly to allow French citizens to return home but also to relieve the massive build-up of freight goods.

On Saturday it took delivery of the first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine it will use in its mass inoculation campaign