France closes nonessential businesses amid coronavirus outbreak

France will close all nonessential stores to reduce the spread of the coronavirus across Europe.

During a news conference on Saturday, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said the order would apply to restaurants, cafes, movie theaters, bars and nightclubs beginning at midnight, according to CNBC.

Essential providers of goods such as grocery stores, pharmacies, gas stations and public transportation will remain open to the public. 

The closures come as France has confirmed 3,667 cases of the coronavirus throughout the country, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Friday announced the rate of cases are increasing across Europe.

“More cases are now being reported [in Europe] every day than were reported in China at the height of its epidemic,” said Tedros at a Friday press event in Geneva.

Earlier this week, WHO declared Europe the new epicenter of the outbreak.

“Right now, the epicenter — the new China — is Europe,” Robert Redfield, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said.

Italy is the second-most affected country outside China, and it also imposed a nationwide lockdown earlier this week. Spain is reportedly arranging similar measures as more outbreaks of the coronavirus emerge, according to the report.

France is the second-largest economy in the European Union, followed by Italy and Spain. 

Germany is the E.U.’s largest economy and is canceling most public events amid the crisis. Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that the economic distress from the coronavirus could be as bad if not worse than the euro banking crisis that occurred 10 years ago, according to the report.

The European Central Bank declined to cut interest rates this week but declared actions to support bank lending and extended its asset-buying program by 120 billion euros.