France, Germany impose new lockdowns to curb virus spread
BERLIN — France announced a full nationwide lockdown for the second time this year and German officials imposed a partial four-week lockdown Wednesday, as governments across Europe sought to stop a fast-rising tide of coronavirus cases.
The World Health Organization says the European region — which includes Russia, Turkey, Israel and Central Asia, according to its definition — accounted for almost half of the 2.8 million new coronavirus cases reported globally last week. The U.N. health agency said virus-related deaths were also on the rise in Europe, with about a 35% spike since the previous week, as well as hospitalizations due to COVID-19.
“We are deep in the second wave,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters in Brussels. “I think that this year's Christmas will be a different Christmas.”
The European Union, Britain, Norway, Switzerland and Iceland alone accounted for 1.1 million cases over the past seven days, she said, “and we expect this number to keep rising in the next two to three weeks, and rapidly.”
German officials have agreed to a four-week shutdown of restaurants, bars, cinemas, theaters and other leisure facilities in a bid to curb a sharp rise in coronavirus infections, Chancellor Angela Merkel said.
Merkel and the country's 16 state governors, who are responsible for imposing and easing restrictions, agreed on the partial lockdown in a videoconference. It is set to take effect on Monday and last until the end of November.
Merkel said, “We must act, and now, to avoid an acute national health emergency.”
Restaurants will still be allowed to serve take-out food. Shops and schools are to remain open, unlike during Germany's shutdown during the first phase of the pandemic.
The decision came hours after Germany's disease control agency said a record 14,964 new confirmed cases were registered across the country in the past day, taking the national total in the pandemic to 449,275.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced a second nationwide l ockdown from midnight Thursday until Dec. 1, but said schools would remain open.
More than half the country's intensive care units are occupied by COVID-19 patients. French military and commercial planes are ferrying critically ill virus patients to other regions as hospitals fill up.
France reported 288 new virus-related deaths in hospitals in 24 hours Tuesday and 235 deaths in nursing homes over the previous four days. Both figures marked the biggest such rise since May.
“( France has been) overpowered by a second wave,” Macron said in a national televised address Wednesday.
“Nothing is more important than human life,” he added. “We are having 40,00050,000 new identified contaminations each day.”
The government is scheduled to lay out the details of the lockdown on Thursday. Like in the spring, people will have to stay home except if they want to buy essential items, go to a medical appointment or take exercise, which will be capped at one hour.
Overall, Europe has seen more t han 250,000 virusrelated deaths since the start of the outbreak, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Britain and the Czech Republic have also seen a surge in new cases over the past 14 days, while infections rates in Germany were lower but climbing steadily.
Merkel had pressed governors of the country's states to quickly agree upon a partial lock down. After they authorized the move, the chancellor appealed to people not to make unnecessary journeys and said hotels won't be able to accommodate people on tourist trips.
“We can say that our health system can cope with the challenge today,” Merkel said. “But if the pace of infections continues like this, then we'll reach the limits of what the health system can manage within weeks.”