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BERIN / PARIS (REUTERS) – French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel ordered their countries to lockdown again on Wednesday (October 29), as a massive second wave of coronavirus infections threatened to overwhelm Europe before the winter.
Global stock markets plunged in response to news that Europe’s largest economies were imposing restrictions domestically almost as severe as those that led the world economy this year to its deepest recession in generations.
“The virus is circulating at a speed that even the most pessimistic forecasts had not anticipated,” Macron said in a televised address. “Like all our neighbors, we are submerged by the sudden acceleration of the virus.”
“We are all in the same position: invaded by a second wave that we know will be harder, more deadly than the first,” he said. “I have decided that we have to go back to the blockade that stopped the virus.”
Under new French measures that will take effect on Friday, people will be required to stay home except to buy essentials, seek medical care or exercise for up to one hour a day.
They will be allowed to go to work if their employer finds it impossible for them to do work from home. Schools will remain open.
As in the darkest days of spring, anyone leaving their home in France will now have to carry a document justifying being outside, which can be reviewed by the police.
Germany will close bars, restaurants and theaters from November 2 to 30 under measures agreed between Merkel and the heads of regional governments.
Schools will remain open and stores will be able to operate with strict access limits.
“We have to act now,” Merkel said. “Our healthcare system can still meet this challenge today, but at this rate of infections it will reach the limit of its capacity in a few weeks.”
His Finance Minister, Olaf Scholz, posted on Twitter: “November will be a month of truth. The growing number of infections forces us to take harsh countermeasures to break the second wave.”
France has exceeded 36,000 new cases a day.
Germany, which was less affected than its European neighbors earlier this year, has seen an exponential increase in cases.
In the United States, a new wave of infections has been setting records with six days to go on Election Day.
President Donald Trump has downplayed the virus and shows no signs of canceling public rallies where his supporters often refuse to wear masks or keep a safe distance.
European stock markets closed at their lowest levels since late May on Wednesday. In the United States, the S&P 500 was down 3 percent.
In an effort to mitigate the economic impact, Germany will set aside up to € 10 billion (S $ 16 billion) to partially reimburse companies for lost sales.
Italy has reserved more than 5,000 million euros.
If we wait it will be too late
While leaders have been desperate to avoid the crippling cost of the lockdowns, the new restrictions reflect alarm at the galloping pace of the pandemic from Spain, France and Germany to Russia, Poland and Bulgaria.
“If we wait until the intensive care units are full, it will be too late,” said German Health Minister Jens Spahn, whose country has already received patients from neighboring Netherlands, where hospitals have reached their limits.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova said on Wednesday that hospital beds were at 90% capacity in 16 regions of the country, while officials warned that even well-equipped health systems like those in France and Switzerland could reach a breaking point in a few days.
Hopes that new treatments could curb the spread were dashed when the head of Britain’s vaccine procurement task force said a fully effective vaccine may never be developed and early versions are likely to be imperfect.
The latest figures from the World Health Organization showed on Tuesday that Europe reported 1.3 million new cases in the past seven days, nearly half of the 2.9 million reported worldwide, with more than 11,700 deaths, an increase of 37 percent from the previous week.
So far, more than 42 million cases and more than 1.1 million deaths have been recorded worldwide from the virus, which was first identified in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.
Governments across Europe have been criticized for a lack of coordination and for failing to use a case break during the summer to beef up defenses, leaving hospitals unprepared.
Since the weekend, police and protesters have clashed repeatedly in Italian cities from Naples to Turin.
Restaurant owners and business groups have been critical.
“At 6 in the afternoon, public transport is usually crowded. You take a risk because you have to go to work. You wear a mask, you take gel for your hands,” said Elio Venafro after getting off a bus in downtown Rome on Wednesday. “It’s the new normal.”
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