France braces for wider Covid restrictions

France was preparing Thursday for tighter coronavirus restrictions in several major cities, two days after a maximum alert protocol went into force in Paris that included bar closures. 'The virus has been spreading faster in recent weeks,' President Emmanuel Macron said late Wednesday. 'In places where it is spreading too fast, especially where it is spreading among the elderly who are most at risk, and where there are more and more intensive care beds being occupied, we must proceed to more restrictions,' he said on French TV.