LA shuts restaurants as virus surges, but Europe eases lockdowns
A restaurant dining ban in Los Angeles was due to come into force on Wednesday as officials warned Americans to stay home for the Thanksgiving holiday, while parts of Europe eyed looser coronavirus lockdowns over the festive season.
The three-week order in America’s second-biggest city will begin as California faces record COVID-19 cases, and its health secretary urged people to avoid large family gatherings.
“It’s as important to say no’ even when it comes to the closest people in our family,” doctor Mark Ghaly said, adding he had barred his mother from a planned celebration.
The US government’s health protection agency has, for the first time, called on Americans not to travel for an annual holiday which usually sees families get together over turkey, yams and cranberry sauce.
With the US confronted by soaring numbers of deaths and new cases, plans to deliver a vaccine to Americans are accelerating.
More than six million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine will be available in the first week after it is cleared for emergency use -- which is likely next month -- and 40 million by the end of December, according to officials. There were more than
,000 coronavirus hospitalizations in the US on Tuesday, a record, as well as 1 7,000 new cases and more than 2,000 deaths.
As America grappled with its crisis, some European nations were slowly relaxing measures ahead of their own Christmas holidays, as a second wave of infections slowed
following weeks of lockdowns.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen warned, however, against easing restrictions too
quickly.
“We must learn from the summer and not repeat the same mistakes, relaxing too fast,” she said Wednesday.
In a televised address, French President Emmanuel Macron announced shops could re-open from Saturday, and nationwide stay-at-home orders would be lifted from December 15. British authorities also announced restrictions on social mixing and said travel would be eased across the UK over Christmas.
Elsewhere in Europe, 1 German states agreed to slightly loosen limits on social contact over Christmas, according to a draft deal seen by AFP, even as cases near one million there.