(Credit: Opera Online)

Opéra De Rouen Normandie has canceled all performances in March 2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

The news comes days after the Opéra National de Paris canceled all performances until April 5, 2021.

The French government imposed a hard lockdown in France at the end of October 2020, due to the soaring number of COVID-19 cases. The government’s spokesman, Gabriel Attal said that the easing of tough lockdown measures could be possible beginning mid-April 2021.

“We will still face hard times, it is true, but for the first time in months, the return to more normal living conditions is in sight,” Attal told the media following a meeting with the cabinet of French Prime Minister Jean Castex. “It is neither a distant nor uncertain horizon – it is a horizon that is getting closer and closer. We hope maybe from mid-April, and we are preparing for it,” added Attal.

Health Minister Olivier Véran said that the country will retain its current measures for at least the next four to six weeks.