'Lockdown plans are ready' - French Prime Minister lays out strategy to curb Covid-19 spread

France's Prime Minister Jean Castex said 'this was the moment to intervene' to curb the rising spread of coronavirus across the French territory to avoid new rounds of lockdown. “We want to do everything to avoid a new lockdown, but the lockdown plans, those detailing the strictest measures, lie ready in the health ministry,' the Prime Minister said during a press conference on Thursday morning. 'We are in a period of epidemic growth,' Castex said. France recorded 5,429 new cases 24 hours on Wednesday, a tally unseen since the peak of the first wave of infections in mid April. The marked a continuation of the rapid spread of the virus, with the daily recordings of cases having risen from around 500 per day to over 5,000 per day in weeks.