France will go into a 4-week lockdown to combat rising coronavirus cases, President Macron announces

• France will enter a four-week COVID-19 lockdown starting Saturday, President Macron said Wednesday.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Wednesday that France would enter a four-week lockdown starting on Saturday as hospitals struggle to contain a surge in COVID-19 cases.

"We will lose control if we do not move now," Macron said in a televised address.

Macron said that schools would close for three weeks, that a nationwide curfew would be imposed from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m., and that nonessential shops would shutter.

The new restrictions also require people to have a certificate to travel further than 10 kilometers, or 6 miles.

In mid-March, Macron imposed limited restrictions in 16 regions. France has dealt with a rise in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, and most new cases have been linked to the virus variant first found in the United Kingdom.

Macron said that just over 10% of the French population had been vaccinated and that daily new COVID-19 infections had doubled to 40,000. The number of people with COVID-19 in intensive-care units in France stood at 5,000 on Tuesday, more than the peak recorded during a lockdown imposed in the fall.

The French president also announced an expansion of the country's vaccination efforts, saying all 60- to 70-year-olds would be eligible starting April 16, all 50- to 60-year-olds would be eligible from May 15, and people under 50 would be eligible in mid-June.