It was time to close shop early and head home in France on Saturday evening (January 16) as a new 6pm curfew intended to help stem the spread of coronavirus infections, especially a more infectious variant, came into effect.

The virus has killed 70,000 people in France, the seventh-highest toll in the world and the government is particularly worried by the more transmissible variant first detected in Britain, which now accounts for about 1% of new cases.

The curfew was brought forward two hours to 6pm and runs until 6am. In addition, from Monday (January 18), anyone travelling to France from outside the European Union will have to show a negative COVID-19 test and self-isolate for a week upon arrival.

Businesses had sought to mitigate from potential losses with some shops opening as early as 7.30am on Saturday. While snow showers hit large parts of the country, people adjusted to the new hours to make sure streets were empty by early evening.

"The weekend is less problematic but during the week people leave the office around 6pm and it's a popular time to get glasses," Mickael Levy, 45, founder of Win Optic, told Reuters TV.

The number of daily infections has hit a plateau at around 20,000, but the number of people entering hospitals and in particular intensive care units is still rising steadily.

The government has also been criticised for the slow pace of the country's vaccine rollout.

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