France says 130,000 of its nationals trying to return home

France is trying to facilitate the repatriation of 130,000 of its nationals stuck overseas due to the coronavirus outbreak, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Friday.

"The fundamental principle is that for the 130,000, we want to bring them back to the national territory, but we ask them to be calm and patient," Le Drian told France Info radio, adding that it would be up to them to pay for their return tickets.

Le Drian urged the more than 3 million French expatriates to stay where they are and warned that the government was ready to toughen up restrictions in France to limit people's movements if existing guidelines were not adhered to sufficiently.