Coronavirus: Italy, China, Spain… the rules for confinement abroad

Many did not follow the instructions. Saturday evening, Edouard Philippe announced the closure of all shops and meeting places, except essential shops, such as food stores and pharmacies in France. But on Sunday, images of people clustered in markets, or along the Canal Saint-Martin in Paris flourished on social networks, contravening any recommendation to avoid leaving home.

These attitudes could encourage the government to tighten the confinement while Emmanuel Macron must address the French in a televised address this Monday evening at 8 p.m. Measures that have already been taken abroad.

In Italy: the refractories expose themselves to prison

On March 8, faced with the explosion of coronavirus cases in Italy, the government decided to place several regions in the north and east in total containment. A measure that affects more than 15 million people. Then, this confinement was extended to the entire national territory.

Concretely, only food and health stores are open. The population is not supposed to leave their home, except to go to work, do their shopping or get medical treatment. Residents of contaminated areas can travel outside their city of residence, but again, provided that this movement is justified.

To ensure that these rules are respected, the police can be brought to control people who circulate on the street, but also in stations and airports. To prove that they have the right to do so, they must provide, for example, a letter from their employer or a medical certificate. In theory, people who break these rules and travel without valid reason risk three months of detention or a fine of up to 206 euros.

But in practice, it is difficult to genuinely control the entire population. Since the implementation of these measures, the Italian media have regularly reported the stories of people who manage to bypass roadblocks at the entrance to cities.

In Spain: up to 600,000 euros fine

The decision made a lot of noise in Spain. Saturday evening, the Spanish government decided to place the whole country in almost total containment. As in Italy, the inhabitants must stay at home, except to go to work, do their shopping or get medical treatment. Thus, only essential businesses remain open, including… hair salons. On the other hand, it is forbidden to go to a friend's, a neighbor's or even to meet people on the street.

Spaniards have the right to travel between cities in the country, by car or plane, but only to get to work. As in Italy, police checks are carried out on the street, in stations and airports to ensure compliance with these rules. According to El Independiente, the law allows sanctions up to 600,000 euros fine and one year in prison.

In China: controls at the entrance of residences

In China, the country where the coronavirus epidemic began, containment measures are beginning to be lifted. But since the end of January, these have been radical, in particular in Hubei province, the first focus of the epidemic. The inhabitants could only leave their house to do rare shopping and were prohibited from leaving their city. The circulation of private cars was prohibited, and public transport stopped. To enforce these measures, controls were carried out at the entrance to the residences.

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But the rules, which have been exported to many cities in the country, have been applied with more or less severity. In some, residents were allowed to leave their homes only two or three times a week for shopping. In others, only one person in the household had this privilege and the ban on going out was complete in some places. The authorities have also sometimes carried out temperature checks to locate any sick person.

And the repression could be severe. In Hong Kong, those who refused to undergo quarantine on their return from mainland China were exposed to six months in prison.