French Finance Minister: new COVID lockdown can only be last resort

A new lockdown to curb the COVID-19 virus in France can only be a last resort, said French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire on Monday, who added that the country's current curfew measures were delivering results in terms of trying to contain the virus. Le Maire told RTL radio that France's current curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. cost the economy around 6 billion euros ($7.3 billion) a month whereas a full lockdown would cost it around 15 billion euros a month.

France decided against imposing a third nationwide coronavirus lockdown on Friday.