In total 54 of the country's 96 mainland départements are now on a nighttime curfew.

The curfew runs from 9pm to 6am and during that time people are only allowed out of their homes for essential reasons and everyone must carry a permission form stating their reason for being out.

This is in response to a worsening health situation in France with spiralling numbers of cases and an increasing number of hospitals reporting that intensive care units are filling up with Covid-19 patients.

You can find the form HERE.

Breaking curfew can earn you a €135 fine or a €3,750 fine and six months in jail for repeat offenders.

READ ALSO What you need to know about France's nighttime curfew

Some of the parts of France worst-affected by Covid-19 were placed under curfew on Friday, October 16th, and a large tranche of others joined them on Friday, October 23rd.

The nine areas which went into curfew in the first wave – coloured dark blue on the map – are the whole of the greater Paris Île-de-France region and the metropole (city and surrounding urban areas) of Lille, Lyon, Saint-Etienne, Grenoble, Aix-Marseille, Montpellier, Rouen and Toulouse.

The newly added 38 départements are coloured mid blue on the map.

Just to add extra confusion, the majority of the curfew zones in the first phase were done on a metropole basis, while the second phase concerns entire départements.

So for example in the Rhône département, currently only the city of Lyon and its suburbs are affected, but from midnight on Friday the restriction extends to cover the whole département.

The areas covered pale green on the map currently have no curfew in place.

However even non-curfew zones still have restrictions in place. The 'rule of six' on gatherings in private spaces extends to the whole country, although this is a government recommendation rather than an actual rule so you won't have gendarmes knocking on your door to count your dinner guests.

READ ALSO What you should know about France's 'rule of six'

And masks are compulsory in all public enclosed spaces such as shops and public transport, while most towns and larger cities have also made them compulsory on the street.