France don enter dia third national lockdown as dem battle increase in cases of COVID-19 wey dey threaten to overwhelm di kontri hospitals.

All schools and non-essential shops go shut down for four weeks, and curfew go dey in place from 19:00 to 06:00.

On Friday, di number of seriously ill Covid patients for intensive care units (ICU) increase by 145 - di biggest jump in five months.

President Emmanuel Macron don promise more hospital beds for Covid patients.

France dey currently battle a rise of about 5,000 Covid patients in ICUs. On Friday, di kontri record 46,677 new cases and 304 deaths.

As well as di restrictions wey come into force on Saturday, from Tuesday pipo go also need valid reason to travel more dan 10 km (six miles) from dia homes.

President Macron bin dey hope to keep France coronavirus cases under control without having to impose anoda lockdown. But di kontri don struggle with EU-wide delay in di vaccine rollout, as well as several new strains of di virus.

What about di rest of Europe?

Italy also enta a strict three-day lockdown on Saturday in order to try to prevent increase in Covid-19 cases over di Easter weekend.

All regions now dey in di "red zone" - di highest tier of restrictions - as di kontri record about 20,000 new cases a day.

Non-essential movement dey banned, but pipo dey allowed to chop Easter meal for dia homes with two odas. Churches also dey open, but dem don tell worshippers to attend services within dia regions.

For di second year on Easter Sunday, Pope Francis go deliver im Easter message to an empty St Peter's Square.

Different regions go den remain in either "orange zone" or "red zone" restrictions until di end of di month.

For Germany, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier call on pipo to play dia part and collect di vaccine.

For television address to di nation on Saturday, e say di kontri dey in di middle of a third wave and say e dey face more restrictions.

Last month, German officials bin announce say dem go place di kontri on strict Easter lockdown - only for dem to reverse dia decision just days later.

Meanwhile:

Poland dey struggle to cope with dia highest number of new infections since di pandemic begin - 60 times higher dan for di start of di pandemic last year

Hungary now get one of di highest Covid mortality rates for di world, with more dan 21,000 coronavirus-related deaths and a third wave wey dey claim hundreds of lives every day.

Czech authorities don beg pipo to respect Covid restrictions during Easter. Di plan na for children to go back to school in one week time, but dem say dat plan fit no work out if pipo mingle now in big numbers.

On Friday, di World Health Organization (WHO) criticise Europe "unacceptably slow" vaccine rollout, and say di situation for di region now dey worse dan e don be for several months.

According to WHO, na only 10% of di nearly 900 million pipo for di region don collect a single dose of coronavirus vaccine.