Europe is progressively closing to stem the flood of the autumn pandemic. In Great Britain Boris Johnson has given in at the speed of the virus, which has caused over a million infections, and has lockdown restored across England.
Austria and Greece they have done the same, extending the list of countries that have returned to the rigid squeeze on social contacts already adopted in the spring. Across the Channel, over 20 thousand new infections are traveled daily. Johnson, after resisting for days the suggestion to impose a two-week generalized confinement, gave in to the experts by imposing an even longer crackdown on all of England, the most populous nation in the Kingdom: from 5 November to 2 December. Without such an intervention, there would have been an imminent overcrowding of hospitals and up to 4,000 deaths a day.
“If we don’t act now” we risk having “thousands of deaths a day” in a few weeks, the premier said at a press conference, announcing the restrictions, which include the closure of all non-essential stores (excluding pharmacies, supermarkets and little else. ), recreational and social activities, hotels, restaurants, pubs and cafes except for take-away services, as well as the return of the mandatory indication to work from home for anyone who can do it, and not to go out except for basic needs. Compared to March, the schools will remain open.
In Austria Chancellor Sebastian Kurz had promised he would do everything to avert a new lockdown. But even there, the exponential growth of infections (the new cases have quintupled in a month) convinced the government to break the delay. “If we do not act now, our intensive care will be overwhelmed”, explained the head of the government, announcing the bis confinement, from Tuesday until the end of November: curfew from 20 to 6, ban on meetings between people from more than two families , cancellation of all sporting, cultural, recreational events, closure of restaurants, bars and hotels. Distance teaching will start for high schools and universities.
The suffering of intensive care units is also a cause for concern in Greece. This was explained by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who opted for a partial lockdown: bars, restaurants, gyms, theaters, cinemas and museums closed for a month in Athens and other large cities, and a night curfew. The country will be divided into two zones, one at high risk and one at lower risk. With the capital in the red zone. Nationally, wearing a mask outdoors will be mandatory. Shops will remain open, so as not to damage the economy, and schools.
But from Belgium to Holland, from the Czech Republic to Ireland, the sad map of Europe in lockout is expanding day by day. With France as the leader, forced to return to the national bloc.
In Germany a light version of it is about to start, because the numbers of the virus are not encouraging: a record of 19 thousand new cases, despite the prediction of Angela Merkel, who a month ago calculated a similar scenario by Christmas. Across the continent, the surge in hospitalizations is the index of the danger of this second wave of Covid-19.
From next Wednesday, November 4th, the Portugal returns to a partial lockdown that will affect 70% of its population. This was announced by the prime minister of Lisbon, Antonio Costa, at the end of an extraordinary council of ministers dedicated to the health crisis. “The time has come when it is necessary to take more restrictive measures to have control over this pandemic”.
In at least 14 countries, they doubled in one week. The most affected, compared to the number of inhabitants, are the Czech Republic, Romania, Belgium and Poland. Those with the greatest increase recorded were Serbia, with hospitalizations increasing by 97%, Belgium (81%), Austria (69%). Following is Italy, with + 64%: the only large European country, together with Spain, which has not closed almost everything. At least for now
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