As new variants spread in France, some want a 3rd lockdown

PARIS (AP) — New virus variants are spreading fast in multiple regions of France, prompting a curfew crackdown around the English Channel coast, and growing calls for a new lockdown in the east. A regional health agency said Saturday that the variant dominant in Britain is now responsible for a large majority of recent virus cases around the French port city of Dunkirk. Saying the health situation is “degrading brutally,” the regional administration ordered tougher mask rules, and urged people in Dunkirk and some other areas not to leave town. France’s largest network of private medical labs also found a jump in cases of the variant first identified in South Africa in three regions of eastern France.