France tightens coronavirus border controls, imposes earlier curfew

French Prime Minister Jean Castex holds a press conference in Paris, France January 14, 2021, on French government's strategy for the ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Thomas Coex/Pool via REUTERS

PARIS (Reuters) - France will strengthen border controls and bring forward its night curfew by two hours to 6 p.m. for at least a fortnight as it tries to slow the spread of coronavirus infections, the government said on Thursday.

France has the seventh highest death toll in the world and the government is particularly worried by the more-transmissible coronavirus variant first detected in Britain, which now accounts for about 1% of new cases.