Yahoo Finance France and Germany facing fresh curbs as Emmanuel Macron to address nation over coronavirus
France and Germany were today facing going into partial lockdown as Europe’s leaders struggle to cope with surging Covid-19 infections.
French president Emmanuel Macron was preparing to deliver a televised address this evening on how the country would tackle the second wave after officials reported 523 more deaths from the disease — the highest daily figure since April.
His office refused to comment on media reports the government was mulling a month-long new national lockdown, although such a move would likely be less severe than the one imposed in March amid a desire to keep schools open.
Another option would be extending local measures and curfews currently affecting more than 40 million citizens.
Meanwhile, German chancellor Angela Merkel was pressing regional leaders for a partial lockdown as the number of newly-recorded infections in the country today hit another record high. Mr Macron was hosting emergency meetings with his defence council and cabinet to discuss the growing crisis.
Interior minister Gerald Darmanin last night told French citizens to “expect difficult decisions”.
“At some point we have to make hard choices as our neighbours have,” he said, referring to strict measures announced for Italy, Spain and elsewhere in Europe.
The number of people currently hospitalised has increased by 1,194 in the last two days, bringing the total to 18,978. Some hospitals have been forced to start transferring patients to less-crowded facilities. “The outbreak is out of control,” the infectious disease specialist Gilles Pialoux at the Tenon hospital in Paris said on BFM television.
Meanwhile, Mrs Merkel was due to meet governors of Germany’s 16 states. Senior officials said she would demand they introduce measures to drastically reduce social contacts, with bars and restaurants likely to be told to shut. Schools across the country have also been preparing to shift at least some of their teaching online, in anticipation of possible partial closures.
The Robert Koch Institute, Germany’s disease control agency, said 14,964 new cases were recorded across the country.
Europe’s daily deaths from Covid-19 have risen by nearly 40 per cent compared with the previous week, according to the World Health Organization, with Spain, the UK, the Netherlands, Russia and Austria most affected.
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