Latest Paris lockdown prompts mass scramble to flee French capital

Air fares reached above €600 for some journeys within France

There were long lines at major railway stations to board fully-booked trains (Getty)

Ticket prices for planes and trains leaving Paris have skyrocketed amid a mass exodus from the French capital on Friday to escape new lockdown restrictions coming into force at midnight.

There were long lines at major railway stations to board fully-booked trains heading to areas outside of the confinement zone, while air fares reached above €600 (£515) for some journeys within France.

French train operator SNCF said it had seen nearly twice as many reservations compared to the previous day, with the most popular destinations being Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille, Rennes and Nantes.

Air France’s website priced one-way tickets for flights from Paris to Bastia in Corsica at between €562 and €642 – a trip that usually costs around €150.

A spokesperson for the airline denied that Air France had deliberately increased its prices.

“We’re only operating 40 per cent of our schedule right now, so the flights should already be full,” the spokesperson said.

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“It is typical for fares to rise for the final seats of a flight and for next-day travel,” they added.

Road traffic was also unusually high on Friday afternoon, according to real-time data from ViaMichelin, with severe traffic jams throughout the Ile-de-France region.

Road traffic was also unusually high on Friday afternoon with severe traffic jams (ViaMichelin)

The month-long restrictions will be imposed across 16 regions in the north of France, including the Paris region, and will include a 7pm curfew and the closure of non-essential businesses.

A nationwide 6pm curfew has already been in place for more than two months, however it has not been enough to slow the spread of the deadly virus.

Announcing the new measures in a televised address on Thursday evening, Prime Minister Jean Castex said intensive care units in the worst effected areas were close to overflowing.

“The epidemic is getting worse,” he said. “Our responsibility now is to not let it escape our control.”

France reported 34,998 new cases on Thursday, roughly seven-times that of the UK.

The allowance of outdoor exercise means the new measures are not as strict as the first lockdown last March, when residents were forbidden from leaving their homes for more than an hour a day to complete essential shopping.

More regions could be forced to introduce the new lockdown measures if cases continue to accelerate, with President Emmanuel Macron describing the situation as “critical” this week in a visit to an overcrowded hospital.

France currently has the sixth highest death toll in the world, with more than 91,000 Covid-19 deaths, and has been averaging more than 250 new deaths each day since the beginning of March.