France braces for partial lockdown
French President Emmanuel Macron announced a partial lockdown on Wednesday.
Bars and restaurants will be closed and private and public gatherings will be prohibited nationwide.
Permission slips will be required for outings, but schools and various public institutions and factories will remain open.
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The restrictions, which will be reviewed every 15 days, go into effect Thursday night and will last through at least Dec. 1.
Macron's announcement follows an alarming spike in deaths from the virus as in addition to record numbers of new cases across France.
"The virus is circulating in France at a speed that even the most pessimistic forecasts had not predicted," Macron said. "If we do not put the brakes on hard today our hospitals will be overwhelmed."
On Tuesday, France lost 527 lives to COVID-19, Macron said. As of Wednesday, the nation's positivity rate was 18.6%.
France's public health agency has confirmed over 1,198,000 cases and 35,541 deaths.
ABC News' Ibtissem Guenfoud and Christine Theodorou contributed to this report.