The Cafe de Flore, once the drinking hole of Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, and the Brasserie Lipp continued serving customers during World War II. But on Sunday they locked their doors until further notice, as France upped its fight against the coronavirus.

“At least during World War II we knew what we were up against. Now we have no idea,” said the Brasserie Lipp’s head waiter, who used to listen to tales of German occupation recounted by colleagues at the 140-year-old Left Bank eatery.

Across the strangely quiet boutique-lined Boulevard Saint-Germain, Sophie Chardonnet watched an employee at the Cafe de Flore swing off his motorbike to collect his belongings before beginning a two-week period of temporary unemployment.

Similar scenes of shuttered cafes, quiet streets and empty stores played out across the French capital after Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced restrictions on French public life unprecedented in living memory.

Restaurants, cafes, bars and cinemas would be closed indefinitely from Sunday, Philippe said.

So too would libraries, shopping malls, and sports halls — any venue deemed non-essential. Food stores and gas stations would remain open.

The coronavirus has sickened some 4,500 people and killed 91 in France.