Lockdowns return to Europe
paris — Bars, restaurants and services prepared on Thursday to shut down in France and Germany as lockdown measures return to Europe to halt a surging tide of coronavirus cases.
As the pandemic spread worldwide, hundreds of thousands of new infections took the known global caseload past 44 million, with nearly 1.2 million deaths.
In Europe, cases are now spiking, pushing leaders to draw lessons from the first wave’s lockdown as they tailor measures to balance health and economic concerns.
Starting Friday, France will bar people from leaving their homes without authorisation, bars and restaurants will be closed until at least December and travel between regions will be limited, President Emmanuel Macron said in a televised address Wednesday.
“As elsewhere in Europe, we are overwhelmed by a second wave that will probably be more difficult and deadly than the first,” Macron said, though he assured that this lockdown would be less severe than the first. Factories will remain open, as will creches and schools — although children as young as six will be required to wear masks.
In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel has ordered a lighter round of shutdowns from Monday, November 2, until the end of the month. Hotel stays are to be restricted while professional sport, including Bundesliga football, is set to take place behind closed doors.
Merkel also warned against the threat of “lies and disinformation, conspiracy and hate” that are undermining the global battle against the pandemic.
Other European states are tightening the screws on normal life, with Ireland locking down last week while Spain and Italy imposed curfews and travel restrictions. Yet despite surging cases and deaths, the UK has vowed to persist with its localised approach instead of a nationwide lockdown. In Mexico, which has the fourth-highest coronavirus death toll at more than 90,000, the pandemic has forced people to draft wills that many would put off.
The United States still has the highest death toll and infection count in the world, and like Europe, it is battling a fresh spike with tens of thousands of new daily cases. —