Departing from his pledge to safeguard education from the pandemic, Macron said schools will close for three weeks after this weekend. But the former investment banker's options narrowed as more contagious strains of the coronavirus swept across France and much of Europe. "It is the best solution to slow down the virus," Macron said, adding that France had succeeded in keeping its schools open for longer during the pandemic than many neighbours. The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care has breached 5,000, exceeding the peak hit during a six-week-long lockdown late last year. France's new lockdown underlines the cost of the European Union's slow rollout of anti-COVID vaccines.
