France sees 400-mile traffic jam as country enters new COVID lockdown

A 430-mile traffic jam clogged up Paris Thursday night just hours before the city was placed under a new lockdown amid a fresh wave of COVID-19 cases.

The second nationwide lockdown went into effect at midnight, allowing 65 million people to leave their homes only for food shopping, medical appointments and work until Dec. 1.

Only schools and essential businesses will remain open as the country battles another surge in coronavirus infections — the highest since April.

The latest lockdown appeared to send Parisians fleeing the city to the countryside, BBC News reported, citing French media.

But Thursday also marked one of the last days people could return home after the country’s school half-term, which ends after All Saints Day on Nov. 1.

“At the moment, it is impossible to tell for sure the traffic jam was a consequence of the lockdown or [people returning from] holidays,” a spokesperson for the Paris region traffic authority told CNN.

The traffic jam stretched as long as 430 miles in the Ile-de-France region with social media videos showing cars barely moving and drivers honking their horns in frustration.

France recorded 47,637 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday and 250 new deaths, according to the BBC.