France envisages month-long national lockdown to control COVID-19

PARIS - The French government is considering a month-long lockdown nationwide to halt the COVID-19 epidemic resurgence, France's BFM TV reported Tuesday.

The lockdown could take effect from midnight on Thursday. But such a measure has not been announced yet. BFM TV said the lockdown would be more flexible than restrictions imposed in March this year.

President Emmanuel Macron will address the nation on Wednesday evening to unveil a new package of tools to contain the virus resurgence, his office announced.

"We must expect difficult decisions," Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told France Inter radio early Tuesday.

Asked about a possible second lockdown, he added, "all options are on the table."

The death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in France jumped by 523 to 35,541, the largest daily rise since the end of April.

Europe is an epicenter of COVID-19 right now, but it can bring the transmission under control again, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.

According to Michael Ryan, executive director of WHO Health Emergencies Program, 46 percent of all the global cases and nearly one third of all deaths were from the European region last week.