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Italy’s three largest cities and dozens of regions in France face curfews as authorities try to slow the spread of the coronavirus in Europe, where most countries now impose or reflect on new restrictions on activity in response to the rapid increase. of cases.
The curfew from midnight to 5 a.m. in the Italian region of Lazio, which includes Rome, begins on Friday (local time) and lasts for 30 days, according to an order signed Thursday by regional governor Nicola Zingaretti. He was seriously ill with Covid-19 when Italy became the first European country to be overwhelmed by an outbreak early in the pandemic.
Petr David Josek / AP
The three largest cities in Italy and dozens of regions in France face curfews as authorities try to curb the spread of the coronavirus in Europe.
The governor of Campania, the southern region that includes densely populated Naples, on Thursday ordered residents to stay home from 11 p.m. until just before dawn the following day. A similar curfew in Lombardy, where infections are on the rise particularly in its main city, Milan, will go into effect Thursday night.
Nightclub operators held a protest in Rome on Thursday to highlight the economic woes that nighttime curfews will bring.
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Greece will impose a 12:30 a.m. curfew.
“The aim is to reduce the general movement and evening gatherings, which favor the transmission of the virus,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a televised speech. “With a little less fun, for a short period of time, we will have better health for a long time.”
Greece has seen an increase in infections in recent weeks, linked to the summer holiday season, and on Thursday it reported 882 new confirmed cases, a record high and 15 deaths. The country will also require the use of outdoor masks in high transmission areas.
Gregorio Borgia / AP
Nightclub operators held a protest in Rome on Thursday to highlight the economic woes that night curfews will bring.
Italy was the first country in Europe to be subjected to a national blockade in March. But so far Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, wary of crippling the country’s economy, has not repeated the drastic move, even as daily confirmed new infections hit a record high of more than 16,000 on Thursday. Instead, for now, Conte has urged the Italians to avoid “unnecessary” moves.
But the government of the Czech Republic reimposed exactly the same heavy restrictions on Thursday that it imposed on citizens in the spring, and that Prime Minister Andrej Babis had repeatedly said would not be repeated, amid a record rise in infections
Babis, who apologized, said that without the restrictions the nation’s healthcare system would collapse in early November. The measures include limits on free movement and the closure of many stores, shopping centers and hotels, until at least November 3.
Curfews were greatly extended in France, where Prime Minister Jean Castex said the restriction ordered last week in eight regions, including Paris and its suburbs, will apply, starting Friday at midnight, to 38 regions plus Polynesia. .
Poland broke another record for new confirmed infections on Thursday with more than 12,100 and recorded nearly 170 new deaths.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki suggested that, starting on Saturday, Poland could be subject to stricter restrictions, such as the mandatory use of masks in all open public spaces, limits on the number of customers in shops and on public transport, and the closure of gyms and swimming pools.
Germany also reported a new daily record of more than 10,000 infections on Thursday, breaking the previous record of 7830 set five days earlier. Health Minister Jens Spahn, who tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday, was quarantined at his home.
Martin Meissner / AP
People are ordered to wear face masks in front of the famous Cologne Cathedral, Germany. The city exceeded the important alert level of 50 new infections per 100,000 residents in seven days.
Denmark also recorded its highest number of cases of Covid-19 infections in one day, 760.
Portugal prohibits people from traveling between counties from October 31 to November 2 on Halloween and All Saints weekend. The move is aimed at discouraging family gatherings, which are blamed for most of the country’s new infections.
Health Minister Marta Temido said she expected the daily count to continue to rise in the coming days. Portugal registered a new record of officially reported daily infections of 3,270 cases.
In Belgium, Chancellor Sophie Wilmes, who as prime minister led the country’s fight against coronavirus at the beginning of the outbreak, was hospitalized in intensive care with Covid-19, her office said Thursday. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Elke Pattyn told The Associated Press that Wilmes is conscious and that his condition is “not worrisome.”
With more than a million accumulated coronavirus infections, Spain reflected on possible curfews.
“It is a reality that in some parts of our country the epidemic is out of control,” Health Minister Salvador Illa told Spanish radio Onda Cero.
With a 14-day infection rate of more than 1,000 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, more than three times the national average, the northern region of Navarra has ordered the closure of all bars and restaurants and that shops and businesses open only until 9:00 p.m. It also banned non-essential travel within and outside its regional borders.
Madrid, which for weeks was the hottest place for the pandemic in Europe, has been under similar measures for almost two weeks. And while she’s seen a recent stabilization of contagion, Illa said more needed to be done there.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson last week introduced a three-tier alert system for England. In Wales, a two-week “firewall” lockdown from Friday will shut down all non-essential shops and ban most travel away from home.
Ireland’s Prime Minister Michael Martin has announced that for the next six weeks all non-essential shops must close, restaurants can only offer takeout and people should not travel more than five kilometers from their homes. Schools will remain open.
Cyprus made the use of masks mandatory for anyone over the age of 12 in public outdoor spaces after daily infections reached record highs in the past two weeks.
Karel Janicek in Prague, Aritz Parra in Madrid, Monika Scislowska in Warsaw, David Rising in Berlin, Lorne Cook in Brussels, Sylvia Hui in London, Jan Olsen in Copenhagen, Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Menelaos Hadjicostis in Nicosia and Elaine Ganley in Paris and Derek Gatopoulos contributed in Athens.
