Paris bans daytime jogging

PARIS: Paris officials announced Tuesday that they would ban daytime jogging to keep people from bending anti-coronavirus lockdown rules, after France recorded its biggest daily jump in the death toll from the outbreak.

Under nationwide stay-at-home orders that came into force on March 17, people can leave their homes only for essential purposes, which until now included a solo walk or run within a one-kilometre (0.6-mile) radius of home.

But amid a spell of sunny spring weather, large groups of Parisians were seen running, walking and congregating over the weekend, even as police stepped up patrols and issued fines for lockdown violations.

Starting Wednesday, Paris will enforce a ban on individual outdoor sports between the hours of 10:00 am and 07:00 pm.

Officials worry that confinement violations could further burden hospitals already overflowing with COVID-18 patients, and Interior Minister Christophe Castaner on Monday urged municipal officials to toughen restrictions if necessary. "Every excursion avoided aids the fight against the epidemic," Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and police chief Didier Lallement said in a statement.

Also Tuesday, the Atlantic coastal resort city of Biarritz limited the period people can sit on benches or in other public areas to two minutes maximum, saying confinement meant that "dawdling is prohibited."