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Starting Saturday, Paris and several other French cities will introduce a curfew between 21 and 06. At the same time, the country has declared a national health crisis that will take effect at the same time as the curfew.
The decision comes after the country is experiencing a widespread wave of infections.
But France is not alone. The UK, the Netherlands and Belgium also see a similar infection situation.
Deputy Health Director Espen Nakstad believes that the corona wave we are seeing now in Europe may be longer than the one we had this spring.
High demand in hospitals
– It is the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands and Belgium that have had the highest increase in infection compared to March, with two to three times more infected, Nakstad tells Dagbladet.
– Here it is worth noting that the actual infection rate is still lower than in March, as the tests are higher now, but these countries notice a large influx of Covid-19 patients in hospitals, it continues.
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Saturday’s curfew will be introduced in Grenoble, Lille, Lyon, Aix-Marseille, Saint Etienne and Toulouse, among others.
The restrictions mean that you cannot go out or go to a restaurant, but there is no ban on traveling between regions or traveling by public transport, writes Sky News.
The decision does not come without reason.
Several days in the past week, the number of new infections far exceeded 20,000 and on Thursday the country set a new infection record with 30,621 new cases. There were also 88 new deaths from corona, while 77 new people were admitted to the hospital with corona disease.
A third of the country’s intensive care units are now occupied by Covid-19 patients.
Curfew
On Monday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson also unveiled a new plan for local closures in Britain, as authorities now consider the country to be in a “critical spot” in the pandemic.
In the last two weeks, the contagion pressure in the country has been 242 infected per 100,000 inhabitants. On Friday, the number is 302, according to the European Agency for the Control of Communicable Diseases (ECDC).
Local closure rules in the UK will depend in the future on whether areas are considered medium, high or very high danger.
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In much of England, the hazard is now considered to be medium in size, which, among other things, means a curfew after kl. 22.
Much like when the first wave of infections hit the UK, several UK politicians believe Johnson is reacting too late.
– Decisive phase in the fight
Labor Party leader Sir Keir Starmer believes the government is no longer listening to researchers and refers to how the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, an advisory body, recommended a shutdown three weeks ago.
Grim landmark
In Spain, Catalonia has decided this week to close all bars and restaurants for two weeks, writes El País.
Also in the Madrid region, albeit reluctantly, new restrictions were introduced last Friday, even after several of the state’s residents were banned from moving outside their municipalities for several weeks.
On Wednesday, Spain also became the first EU country to register more than 900,000 cases of infection during the pandemic.
Nakstad believes that the restrictions now being introduced in various European countries are precisely because the countries want to avoid a situation similar to the one in March.
– They do not want to be in the same situation, with a critically large influx in hospitals. They probably feel like they must now take steps to reverse the infection trend, he tells Dagbladet.
Infection rates are also increasing in Italy, which on Wednesday recorded more than 7,300 cases, according to Sky News.
The number of infected per 100,000 inhabitants has doubled in two weeks and now stands at 96, according to figures from the ECDC.
Cancelled!
The Italian government has declared that it will avoid a new blockade in the country, but has not wanted to rule out the possibility of closing cities and provinces.
– it won’t end well
In Belgium, a curfew has been imposed and bars have been closed for at least a month.
During the last 14 days, 429 cases of contagion have been registered per 100,000 inhabitants and the authorities have warned that the intensive care units of hospitals could be full in November, if the infection is not reduced.
Germany has also introduced stricter measures in areas severely affected by the crown, after the country has set new infection records for several days in a row.
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In areas where the number of virus cases exceeds 35 per 100,000 inhabitants for seven days, it is now recommended that bandages be requested in public places and that nightclubs close earlier. Mouthpieces are already mandatory in public transport and in stores since April.
At the same time, Merkel warned that if nothing is done now, “it will not end well.”
This was too much
“We must ask everyone, and especially the young people, to get by without a couple of parties now, so that we can have a good life tomorrow or the day after,” Merkel was quoted as saying by Sky News.
More favorable situation in Norway
Nakstad believes that the wave of infections we are seeing now in Europe may be longer than the one we saw in March.
He explains that the infection is not increasing as fast as in March, because most countries have introduced many infection control measures.
At the same time, there is a long way to go to introduce measures as comprehensive as in March, and therefore it takes longer to reduce the wave of infections with less intrusive measures.
He also believes that more countries can introduce new and stricter restrictions if they end up in the same situation as France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Belgium. Nor does it rule out that such restrictions may last until we get a vaccine.
– It also includes Eastern Europe, which is now experiencing its first wave. They were milder this spring as the population here did not go to the Alps.
In the Czech Republic, schools have been closed for a period, in hopes of overcoming the infection. The total number of infected in the country has doubled during October alone, writes the Praguemorning newspaper.
Skiparadis Outbreak: – Huge Bugs
However, Nakstad believes that Norway has good opportunities to avoid the restrictions that are now being introduced in various parts of Europe, if we are careful to comply with infection control rules.
– In Norway, we now have a much more favorable starting point. We now have lower infection rates than most European countries and we still control most outbreaks. This means that we have the opportunity to avoid a situation similar to what we see now in some of the worst affected countries in Europe, says Nakstad.
