Spain, France clamp down
Lady Liberty stands ready to welcome those yearning to be free — but the huddled masses of tourists aren’t clamoring for a hug.
Workers for businesses that accommodate visitors to the iconic Statue of Liberty told the Daily News on Saturday the usual flood of tourists has slowed to a trickle — even though the famous statue is one of the few city must-see sites that remains open.
“The lines here usually stretch sometimes to the Staten Island Ferry, but it’s not happening right now,” said a statue cruise worker who would not give his name. “Especially on a weekend where normally it would be busy by now. So it’s definitely much slower paced then it normally would be.”
“Definitely just the corona[virus] scare,” he added. “If nobody is leaving their house, nobody is going to go to tourist spots.”
But tourists Ellie McKay and Sean Lynch, who arrived from England on Thursday, embraced the opportunity.
“It was a bit scary at first with everything being shut down and everything shut up, but we’re kind of taking advantage of it because it’s a bit quieter,” McKay said.
Lynch said the couple had not initially planned to take the ride to visit the Statue of Liberty.
“We’re just doing it because they closed everything down,” he said.
France ordered the closing of just about everything the rest of the world loves about it — the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the cafes, restaurants and cinema — and Spain drew up plans Saturday to lock down its 46 million citizens as governments took increasingly desperate measures to put more space between people and contain the coronavirus.
China, meanwhile, where the scourge first appeared late last year, continued to relax its drastic restrictions, illustrating the way the center of gravity in the crisis has shifted westward toward Europe. The virus has infected more than 150,000 people worldwide and killed over 5,600.
According to a draft government order seen by The Associated Press, Spain’s government planned to impose tight emergency restrictions nationwide on people’s movements.
In an echo of the far-reaching measures already imposed in Italy, people will be allowed to leave their homes only to buy food and medicine, commute to work, go to hospitals and banks, or take trips related to the care of the young and the elderly. Those rules will take effect Monday morning.
In Italy, the worst-hit European country, the number of deaths climbed past 1,400 and infections surged roughly 20% overnight to more than 21,000 because of what authorities characterized as irresponsible behavior by people still socializing despite the nationwide lockdown. Many Italian cities, including Rome and Milan, decided to close playgrounds and parks, too.
Paris followed other cities in shuttering major tourist attractions, and France announced it was closing all restaurants, cafes, theaters and nonessential shops starting Sunday. France has recorded at least 3,600 infections. It has banned all gatherings of more than 100 people, ordered all schools closed and asked companies to allow workers to stay home.
In Britain, the death toll nearly doubled from the day before to 21, and the number of people infected rose to over 1,100. Ireland had 90 confirmed cases and one death as of Friday. Greece’s infection total approached 230 with three deaths, and police there arrested 45 shopkeepers Saturday for violating a ban on operations.
In the Middle East, Iran’s death toll reached 611, with nearly 13,000 infections, including senior government officials.