France will impose an earlier curfew in 15 northeastern and southeastern departments from Saturday to combat the spread of the coronavirus, starting at 6pm instead of 8pm, Reuters quoted the government as saying on Friday.

“We are taking a decision for 15 departments. In a week’s time we will assess the impact of this earlier curfew on these 15 departments, on the circulation of the virus elsewhere in the country,” government spokesman Gabriel Attal told TF1 television.

“Obviously if the situation were to deteriorate further in some regions, we would take the necessary decisions. The measures are incremental and can of course — in principle — go as far a lockdown,” he added.

France has the highest Covid-19 cases count in Western Europe and the fifth in the world, with 2,620,425 in total. The death toll is 64,632.