France to undergo second national coronavirus lockdown

France is set to go under a second national lockdown starting Friday, as coronavirus cases have skyrocketed in recent weeks and caused mass hospitalizations.

The new regulation stipulates that people are only permitted to leave their homes for essential work or medical reasons. All nonessential businesses, such as restaurants and bars, will close under the new mandate, according to the BBC.

Schools and churches will remain open, making this lockdown less restrictive than the earlier one this year.

Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron announced the new measures during a televised press conference Wednesday.

“The virus is circulating in France at a speed that even the most pessimistic forecast didn’t foresee,” Macron said, according to Bloomberg. “The measures we’ve taken have turned out to be insufficient to counter a wave that’s affecting all Europe.”

Macron recently imposed a curfew for Paris and eight other cities, but it failed to help curb spiking rates of COVID-19. Currently two-thirds of the nation is under a night-time curfew.

Macron warned French residents to be prepared to be on lockdown at least throughout November.