France decided against imposing a third nationwide lockdown on Friday and instead ordered tighter Covid controls at its borders, increased police action against curfew breakers and a greater adherence to home working.
Prime Minister Jean Castex said the public health crisis remained of great concern, as France's death toll jumped above 75,000, the seventh-highest toll in the world.
“We know the grave impact (of a lockdown). Tonight, looking at the data of the past few days, we consider that we can still give ourselves a chance to avoid one,” Mr Castex said in a televised statement.
Speaking shortly after President Emmanuel Macron held a meeting with senior ministers about the crisis, Mr Castex said that from Sunday all arrivals into France from outside the European Union would be banned, except for essential travel. All visitors from EU nations would need to show a negative PCR test.
The prime minister also said non-food shopping centres with a surface area of more than 20,000 square metres would be closed while home-working rules would be reinforced.
France recorded 22,858 new confirmed Covid-19 cases on Friday, taking the total to 3.15 million. A shortage in vaccine supplies from pharmaceutical firms Pfizer and Moderna has resulted in a sharp slowdown in France's vaccine deployment.
