France goes into second lockdown
Europe is being overrun, warns Macron as Johnson is urged to protect economy
FRANCE will be plunged into a second lockdown tomorrow after Emmanuel Macron said Europe was being “overrun” by a second wave of coronavirus which would be “harder, more deadly than the first”.
The French president ordered the closure of non-essential shops, along with bars and restaurants, and told people to stay at home unless they had documentation showing why they needed to go to work or make other journeys.
Britons will be banned from entering France unless they have a signed certificate stating why they need to travel.
Mr Macron said he had been forced to take drastic action: “The virus is circulating at a speed that not even the most pessimistic forecasts had anticipated. Like all our neighbours, we are submerged by the sudden acceleration of the virus. We are all in the same position.”
Germany also announced a new national lockdown yesterday despite both it and France recording fewer daily deaths than Britain.
The FTSE 100 Index plunged 2.6 per cent yesterday amid news of the new lockdowns, wiping £37.3 billion off the value of Britain’s biggest companies, as European stock markets slumped to their lowest levels since May. Boris Johnson yesterday toughened restrictions in the highest of England’s three tiers in the hope he can avoid national restrictions and save the traditional family Christmas.
The Prime Minister, who in March was accused of waiting too long before imposing lockdown, is under pressure from Labour to impose a national “circuit breaker” but has insisted it is unnecessary. Senior Tories last night urged him to protect the economy rather than follow Europe’s lead.
In Germany, Angela Merkel ordered the closure from Monday of bars, restaurants, cinemas, theatres, gyms and hotels, along with the introduction of contact and travel restrictions.
The 14-day infection rate per 100,000 people stands at 659 in France, 424 in Britain and 156 in Germany, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
Mr Johnson will meet ministers to decide if regional lockdowns are necessary in November after his scientific advisers predicted that 85,000 people could die in the UK during a second wave of the virus, twice as many as in the original spike.
A longer, flatter peak could continue through Christmas and even i nto March, the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) said in its “worst case scenario” modelling.
Nottinghamshire tomorrow goes into the harshest restrictions in England since the spring as it adopts what has been dubbed “Tier 3 plus”.
On top of the restrictions on other Tier 3 regions, such as the closure of pubs and a ban on household mixing,
off-licence sales of alcohol are banned after 9pm, and nail and tanning salons must close, as must betting shops, car boot sales and auction houses. Ministers have not ruled out bringing in a “Tier 4”, akin to regional lockdowns, if people fail to comply with local rules.
While Mr Macron said France’s lockdown would end once infections fell below 5,000 a day, Mr Johnson has published no exit strategy. Latest results from Imperial College London’s React surveillance survey suggest the “R” rate is around 1.6 – anything above 1 means an exponential rise – and the pandemic has reached a “critical stage” with infections doubling every nine days.
Scientists warned areas in the South were just a few weeks behind the North, with London’s R rate rising to 2.86.
Nearly a million people are now thought to be infected in Britain, with an estimated 96,000 new cases each day. Prevalence is highest in Yorkshire and the Humber, where more than one in 40 people is now infected.
The French president put his country back into lockdown after it recorded a new high in daily infections of 36,437 cases, with 244 deaths. Germany recorded 14,964 new cases yesterday, the highest daily figure since the pandemic began and a doubling of cases in just a week, along with 85 deaths. Britain, with a smaller population than France or Germany, recorded 24,701 new cases – the second-highest on record – and 310 deaths.
Mr Macron warned 400,000 more could die in France if no action was taken. He said the measures would stay in place for at least a month, but schools would remain open throughout.
Mrs Merkel imposes tough new measures on Germany for a month from Monday in the hope infection rates will come down in time to save Christmas. She said: “We must break the wave of infection. We have to act now.”
She admitted Germany’s test and trace system had been overwhelmed, as in 75 per cent of cases the source of infection could not be traced.
With similar or higher rates of infection in Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, more national lockdowns were expected to follow.
Italy reported a record high of nearly 25,000 new coronavirus infections, heightening concerns that it too could be heading for a second lockdown, while Switzerland imposed tighter restrictions from today.
Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the defence select committee, urged Mr Johnson to show that the UK had the resolve to stay open. He said: “We are in a different place now with better medicines and an improved national mindset.”