PARIS—New virus variants are spreading fast in multiple regions of France, causing local authorities to order tougher mask rules and a curfew crackdown around the English Channel coast, and prompting growing calls for a new lockdown in the east.
Although France closed its borders with Britain in December, the virus variant first identified in Kent, England is now responsible for a large majority of recent virus cases around the French port city of Dunkirk, according to a statement Saturday from the regional health agency.
