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LONDON / BERLIN: Europe began to calculate the cost of the extensive restrictions on social life imposed to contain an increase in coronavirus infections, while Britain continued to resist following Germany and France to order a second lockdown.
As the pandemic raced across the continent, Europe has returned to the center of the global pandemic, facing the prospect of a prolonged economic recession coupled with a public health crisis that has so far led to more than 44 million infections. and 1.1 million deaths worldwide.
France and Germany have imposed controls almost as strict as the first phase of the crisis closures in March and April, closing bars and restaurants and restricting movement, while allowing schools and most businesses to stay open.
But Britain, the country with the highest number of coronavirus deaths in Europe, said it would stick with a system of local locks despite a new study showing that cases in England were doubling every nine days.
“Today’s government judgment is that a generalized national shutdown is not appropriate, it would do more harm than good,” Housing Minister Robert Jenrick told Times Radio.
Germany has set aside about 10 billion euros ($ 11.82 billion) to help small businesses affected by the new measures, but Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said the economy was not experiencing an industrial collapse as it did in the initial phase of the pandemic.
“(The economy) is so strong that we can avoid falling into a long period of recession,” he said. However, he added that production would not return to pre-pandemic levels until at least 2022.
On the other hand, the governor of the Bank of France, Francois Villeroy de Galhau, also said that the fall in gross domestic product (GDP) expected by the end of the year should be less severe than in the first half of the year after the initial closing.
READ: Disneyland Paris to close again while France orders second virus lockdown
Financial markets stabilized somewhat on Thursday following a brutal selloff a day earlier, as the latest restrictions dampened the weak signs of recovery seen during the summer and signaled further economic pain later in the year.
The European Central Bank, which has been propping up the economy through its € 1.35 trillion (US $ 1.60 trillion) Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program, said it was ready to offer additional support.
Governments have been desperate to prevent a repeat spring closures, but have been forced to move by the speed of new infections and a steadily rising death rate across the continent as winter approaches.
Even well-equipped healthcare systems in countries like France, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland have been pushed close to their limits by the exponential increase in cases this month.
On Thursday, Sweden, which is the only European country that never imposed a lockdown, reported its third record increase in cases in a matter of days.
“We are beginning to approach the limit of what the healthcare system can handle,” chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell told a news conference, calling for a joint effort to curb the spread of the virus.
‘WINTER WILL BE HARD’
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her government had moved quickly to prevent intensive care facilities from being overwhelmed and called for a joint effort to tackle the crisis.
“We are in a dramatic situation at the beginning of the cold season. It affects us all, without exception,” Merkel told the lower house of the Bundestag parliament, adding that the new restrictions to reduce social contact were “necessary and proportionate.”
However, he warned of the difficult months ahead and said: “The winter will be hard.”
While Paris and Berlin hope the month-long lockdowns will be enough to slow the spread of the disease, there was little certainty whether they would be enough to return to near normalcy.
“We want to do everything possible so that the French can be with their families and friends at the end of the year festivities,” said French Health Minister Olivier Veran. “Will it be the same? Possibly not.”
While the latest restrictions have put the spotlight on Europe, the United States has also seen an increase in new coronavirus cases in the run-up to next week’s presidential election, with more than 80,000 new cases and 1,000 deaths reported on Wednesday. .
“We are on a very difficult trajectory. We are going in the wrong direction,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, a member of the task force and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
In contrast, many Asian countries have begun to relax controls as the disease has been brought under control, with Singapore announcing that it would ease restrictions for visitors from mainland China and the Australian state of Victoria.
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