French Upper House Approves National Strategy To Curb COVID-19 Pandemic

The French Senate, the upper chamber of the parliament, on Thursday passed the government program to tighten COVID-19 restrictions amid the deteriorating coronavirus incidence rates

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st April, 2021) The French Senate, the upper chamber of the parliament, on Thursday passed the government program to tighten COVID-19 restrictions amid the deteriorating coronavirus incidence rates.

The voting was attended by 45 out of 348 lawmakers.

"The Senate approved by 39 votes for and 2 against (45 votes) the declaration of the @Gouvernement on the evolution of the health situation linked to the #COVID19," the upper house tweeted.

Late on Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron unveiled details of the new strategy, which saw a set of restrictions, which previously applied in the country's 19 highly-infected departments, coming into force throughout the whole of France for four weeks starting Saturday.

The initiative was already presented to the lower parliamentary house - the National Assembly - by Prime Minister Jean Castex.

The soon-to-be-countrywide measures include closures of cultural venues, entertainment facilities and non-essential shops. Besides, schools and kindergartens in the country are due to be shut for three weeks, and inter-regional travel is also to be restricted. The nightly curfew, which has been introduced in mid-December, remains in effect.