Ireland becomes first EU country to go back into lockdown as it tries to ‘save Christmas’

IRELAND will today become the first EU country to go back into a national lockdown as more regions attempt to curb the spread of the virus by moving to keep citizens inside.

From midnight, all Ireland’s nonessential retail businesses have to close and bars and restaurants will be allowed to offer takeaway or delivery only.

The measures will last for six weeks and rank as the toughest restrictions in Europe since the first round of national lockdowns, although schools will be allowed to stay open.

Ireland has 232 Covid cases per 100,000 people. Micheál Martin, the prime minister, said the drastic measures were necessary to “save Christmas” and ensure that retailers could look forward to a bumper December.

It is estimated that 150,000 jobs will be lost and the government will have to s pend an additional € 1 . 5 bil l i on (£1.37 billion) in extra support for businesses and the newly unemployed.

Meanwhile, an area of Germany became the first place in the country to return to full lockdown in response to the second wave of the pandemic.

Residents of the Berchtesgadener Land, a mountainous area near the Austrian border, were ordered to stay in their homes from 2pm yesterday.

Schools, nurseries, restaurants and non-essential shops have been ordered

to close. The lockdown was ordered after the weekly infection rate in the sparsely populated region surged to 272 per 100,000 inhabitants.

“There is no other way,” said Markus Söder, the regional minister of Bavaria. “We can no longer trace all the contact chains. So we have to restrict contacts.”

In Italy, the northern region of Lombardy announced it was introducing a night-time curfew for three weeks – the most restrictive measures Italy has seen since it emerged from a national lockdown in mid-may.

As Spain approaches the grim milestone of a million confirmed Covid-19 cases – likely to be reached this week – the region of Navarre introduced the toughest lockdown in the country since a state of emergency was lifted in June.

Navarre’s regional government will close all bars and restaurants for two weeks, while also banning social gatherings outside family groups and preventing all but essential travel.

The Czech Republic is considering implementing a full lockdown, while all bars and restaurants in Belgium are closed for four weeks.