Paris goes into lockdown as COVID-19 variant rampages

French Prime Minister Jean Castex delivers a news conference on the current French government strategy for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, in Paris, France March 18, 2021. Martin Bureau/Pool via REUTERS

PARIS (Reuters) - France imposed a month-long lockdown on Paris and parts of the north after a faltering vaccine rollout and spread of highly contagious coronavirus variants forced President Emmanuel Macron to shift course.

Since late January, when he defied the calls of scientists and some in his government to lock the country down, Macron has said he would do whatever it took to keep the euro zone's second largest economy as open as possible.