Hospitals in the Paris and Marseille regions are delaying some scheduled operations to free up space for COVID-19 patients as the French government tries to stem a rising tide of coronavirus infections, the health minister said Sunday.

As restaurants and bars in Marseille prepared to shut down Sunday night for a week as part of scattered new French virus restrictions, Health Minister Olivier Veran insisted that the country plans no new lockdowns.

Two Nobel Prize-winning economists proposed in Le Monde newspaper this weekend that France lock down its population for the first three weeks of December, to allow families to get together safely for the end-of-year holidays and "save Christmas."

In response, Veran said on LCI television that "we do not want to confine the country again. Several countries around us made other choices. We don't want this."

He urged the French to make an effort to slow the spread of the virus, after health authorities reported 14,000 new infections Saturday amid a mass testing effort. France has reported 31,700 virus-related deaths, the third-highest toll in Europe after Britain and Italy.

While at least 10% of French intensive care beds are now occupied with COVID patients, Veran said they're far from saturation.

Still, he said hospitals in the Paris and Marseille regions are delaying scheduled surgeries to free up space. Hospitals temporarily suspended such operations when the virus swept through France in March and April, creating backlogs that still persist six months later, adding to the strain on patients and medical staff.

Marseille restaurant and bar owners and local officials have protested the government's closure order, accusing the central government in Paris of singling out their rival Mediterranean city for punishment.

The government is imposing milder restrictions on Paris and several other cities, with gyms shut down, public gatherings of more than 10 people banned and bars ordered to close at 10 p.m. starting Monday night.

Meanwhile, the Dutch government introduced new nationwide restrictions Monday aimed at tackling the swift spread of coronavirus infections that is sweeping across the country, including banning supporters from professional sports matches and ordering bars and restaurants to close at 10 p.m. for the coming three weeks.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte also advised people to wear face masks when shopping in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, the three cities with the highest rates of infections, and said store owners can refuse entry to customers who aren't wearing a mask.

Health Minister Hugo de Jonge warned that the nation is failing to control the virus and could face tougher measures if the tide isn't turned soon.

"The bottom line is, we're doing our best, but the virus is doing better," De Jonge said in a nationally televised news conference with Rutte to announce the new restrictions. The package of new measures comes into force Tuesday evening.

The announcement comes less than two weeks after the government ordered bars and pubs in the most populous regions of the country to close earlier than usual at 1 a.m.

Infections have been soaring in the Netherlands in recent weeks. The country's coronavirus dashboard registered 2,921 new infections in the last 24 hours, down slightly from the 2,996 registered Sunday by the country's public health institute.

Ernst Kuipers, of the national acute care network, told reporters ahead of the news conference that there are now 660 COVID-19 patients in Dutch hospitals, including 142 in intensive care units and that the numbers are rising fast.

Rutte said that people should work from home, people should allow no more than three visitors into their homes, and that in other places no more than four people should go out together. A maximum of 30 people will be allowed at indoor venues like stores and bars and a maximum of 40 at outdoor locations.