COVID-19: France has imposed a curfew in Paris and eight other cities from Saturday (File)
Paris, France:
France on Wednesday became the last European country to toughen anti-coronavirus measures, imposing a curfew in Paris and eight other cities from Saturday, while Germany and Ireland also tightened restrictions.
“We must act. We must stop the spread of the virus,” President Emmanuel Macron said on public television, announcing a shutdown between 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. that will remain in effect until six a.m. weeks.
Other large French cities like Lyon, the Mediterranean port of Marseille and southwest Toulouse will also impose curfews, with around 20 million people affected in total, out of a total population of around 67 million.
Minutes before Macron’s announcement, his government said it would extend the state of health emergency.
With more than one million coronavirus deaths and nearly 40 million cases worldwide, regions like Europe that quelled the first outbreak are once again facing difficult choices about how to control a new wave without the economic devastation caused by nationwide lockdowns.
In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced stricter measures on gatherings and the wearing of masks.
“I am convinced that what we do now will be decisive for how we overcome this pandemic,” said the leader.
New infections in Germany continued to rise on Wednesday, surpassing 5,000 cases in 24 hours – a level not seen since a lockdown imposed on Europe’s largest economy in the spring.
“We are in a situation where I think we can further flatten exponential growth,” said Lothar Wieler, head of the German disease control agency. “But for this we must all make an effort.”
Worsening of the situation
In Spain, bars and restaurants will close in the northeastern region of Catalonia for the next 15 days as the country tackles one of the highest infection rates in the European Union, with nearly 900,000 cases and over 33,000 deaths.
In the Netherlands, where new measures also came into force, including restrictions on alcohol sales and new mask requirements, people drank and danced to techno music in the final minutes before the closure of all cannabis bars, restaurants and coffeeshops.
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin has announced a series of new curbs along the border with the British province of Northern Ireland, including the closure of non-essential outlets, gymnasiums, swimming pools and leisure centers .
Earlier on Wednesday, the decentralized government of Northern Ireland announced plans to shut down pubs and restaurants for four weeks, tighten restrictions on social gatherings and extend mid-term school holidays to counter the surge in number of cases.
Infection rates “must be rejected now or we will be in a very difficult situation very soon,” Prime Minister Arlene Foster told lawmakers in the Northern Ireland Assembly.
“Disaster” lock
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is also coming under increasing pressure to impose tougher measures to reduce the rate spiral in England, including a two-week “circuit breaker” lockdown.
Johnson said a new UK-wide lockdown would be a “disaster” but declined to rule it out because the government’s science advisory committee approved a temporary lockdown.
And in Italy, authorities recorded 7,332 new cases on Wednesday – the highest daily tally the hard-hit country has ever recorded.
Rome has already imposed new, stricter rules to control the resurgence of the virus, including the end of parties, amateur football matches and bar snacks at night.
Beyond Europe, the death toll in the United States rose by 794 in one day to 216,597, according to Johns Hopkins University, just three weeks away from a crucial election in which the pandeic plays a central role.
Another 52,160 had been infected in the past 24 hours, an increase of 0.7%.
Iran on Wednesday announced new travel restrictions affecting the capital Tehran and four other major cities, as well as new one-day records for deaths and new Covid-19 infections.
And neighboring Iraq’s death toll since the start of the pandemic has exceeded 10,000 people.
At least 1,089,039 people worldwide have died from the coronavirus since it emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019, according to an AFP tally using official figures. At least 38.3 million cases have been recorded worldwide.
In online discussions, G20 finance ministers and central bankers agreed to extend a moratorium on debt repayments for the world‘s poorest countries for six months and followed another extension in the spring.
The virtual talks, hosted by the current G20 president in Saudi Arabia, came a day after the International Monetary Fund warned that global GDP would contract 4.4% in 2020 and the damage inflicted by the pandemic would be felt for years.
Drug drop
As Europe imposed new restrictions, hopes of vaccines or treatments to provide relief suffered from the suspension of two clinical trials in the United States.
U.S. pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly said on Tuesday it had suspended the Phase 3 trial of its antibody treatment over an unspecified incident, the second in less than 24 hours after Johnson & Johnson encountered a similar issue with its vaccine candidate.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow had registered a second vaccine called “EpiVacCorona”, developed by a top-secret Siberian laboratory, to track its first “Sputnik” vaccine.
