Berlin-Paris-Sana
France and Germany renewed the imposition of lockdown measures with another severe wave of the new Corona virus outbreak sweeping Europe before winter, coinciding with a sharp decline in global stock markets due to news of the imposition of the two largest economies in Europe to restrictions on the level of the country converging in the severity of the measures that pushed the global economy To the worst recession in decades.
French President Macron said in a televised speech: "The virus is spreading at a speed that was not anticipated by the most pessimistic estimates ... and like all neighboring countries ... the sudden acceleration confused us."
He added, "We are all in the same situation ... a second wave is sweeping us, and we know that it will be more difficult and deadly than the first."
Under the new procedures, which will take effect from tomorrow, the French authorities will require citizens to stay at home and not go out except to buy their necessary needs, receive treatment, or practice physical exercises for one hour a day.
Employees will be allowed to go to the workplace if their managers decide it is impossible to work from home, but the schools will remain open.
In Germany, the authorities decided to close bars, restaurants and theaters from the second to the 30th of November, according to procedures that Merkel agreed with state prime ministers, provided that schools are allowed to continue the educational process and shops operate with strict restrictions.
Merkel said: "We should act now ... Our health system can still meet this challenge today ... But with this rapid rate of infection, we will reach its maximum capacity within weeks."
France is witnessing more than 36,000 infections per day, and Germany, which was less affected than other European countries, this year began to record an accelerated increase in infections.
European stock markets closed at their lowest levels since late May today.
In an attempt to reduce the economic impact, Germany will allocate up to ten billion euros, equivalent to 12 billion dollars, to partially compensate companies for sales lost due to the closure, and Italy has allocated more than five billion euros.
At a time when European leaders have tried desperately to avoid the exorbitant cost of closures, the new measures reflect growing concern about the accelerating pace of the epidemic from Spain, France and Germany to Russia, Poland and Bulgaria.
German Health Minister Jens Spahn said at a time when hospitals reached their maximum capacity: “If we wait for the intensive care units to be full, it will be too late.”
French Prime Minister Jean Castex warned MPs that intensive care units in France will reach their maximum capacity by 11 November if no action is taken to curb the spread of the epidemic that has infected more than 42 million and killed more than 1.1 million worldwide.
Swiss officials have warned that Swiss hospitals could reach breaking point within days.
The latest figures issued by the World Health Organization yesterday showed that Europe recorded 1.3 million new cases in the past seven days, nearly half the number of cases recorded around the world, which numbered 9.2 million, in addition to more than 11,700 deaths, an increase of 37 percent from the previous week. .
Hopes that new treatments might limit the spread were dealt a heavy blow when the head of the British vaccine purchase task force warned that an effective vaccine may never be developed.
While surveys in many countries show that a number of countries want strict controls to stop the spread of the disease, the atmosphere of public support for governments in the first wave of the epidemic is no longer largely present.
Across Europe, governments have come under fire for lack of coordination and their failure to take advantage of the fall in cases over the summer to bolster defenses, leaving hospitals unprepared and forcing people to use crowded public transport to get to work.