French schools will close for at least three weeks as part of new national restrictions to fight rising Covid cases, President Emmanuel Macron says.
Mr Macron said that schools would move to remote learning from next week.
Lockdown measures, introduced in some areas of France earlier this month, are also being extended to other districts.
All non-essential shops are to close from Saturday and there will be a ban on travelling more than 10km (six miles) from home without good reason.
The country is facing a peak of over 5,000 people in intensive care.
France has so far reported more than 4.6 million cases of coronavirus and 95,495 Covid-related deaths.
In his live televised address on Wednesday, Mr Macron described the situation in the country as "delicate" and said that April would prove crucial.
The 43-year-old president said that it was a race between vaccination on the one hand and attempting to control the spread of the virus on the other.
He said that while schools would be closing from next week, classes would remain open for the children of key workers.
Mr Macron said that people would be given the Easter weekend to get themselves to where they want to spend the lockdown.
He described "light at the end of the tunnel" if people respected the new measures.
Parliament will debate the measures announced by Mr Macron before voting on them on Thursday, according to the prime minister's office.
Source: BBC
