Declaring “we are at war”, the President of France Emmanuel macron has banned public meetings, no matter how small they may be, starting Tuesday, and has postponed the next municipal elections.
His order, amounting to a nationwide Directive that the people remained in their homes, except for basic needs, is one of the strictest in Europe. He said that even those who meet other on the street or in the Park, will be punished.
Across the continent on Monday the government raced to catch up with the epidemic, the spread and impact of which is constantly outpaced their efforts to counter. Is increasing daily the number of registered novel coronavirus infection — more than 6000 on Thursday, about 7,000 on Friday, more than 8,000 on Saturday and about 9,000 on Sunday, bringing the total to about 53 000.
Germany, Spain and Switzerland joined the list of countries actually covering some or all of its borders. France and Spain have warned that their health systems can be overwhelmed.
And in Italy, which is still the most affected country in Europe and the first to introduce a nationwide lock, medical resources are already cracking from high stress, and the government announced the allocation of $ 28 billion for emergency assistance to individuals, businesses and the health care system, to prevent chaos and financial difficulties. All this causes great damage to the economy.
The government of Spain, where by Monday, there were almost 10,000 cases and over 300 deaths, ordered the inhabitants to stay at home. They can leave only in search of food or medical care, aid to the needy, or to work — although many jobs were closed. Schools, restaurants and bars were ordered to close.
France, with more than 6600 cases and 148 deaths by Monday, ordered the closure of all “essential” company.
Repair the fire ravaged the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris shut down because workers could not be far enough from each other.
Jérôme Salomon, a senior official of the Ministry of health of France, said Monday that the situation there is “deteriorating very rapidly”, when hundreds of patients with coronavirus are in critical condition.
“We see that the number of infections doubling every three days,” said Mr. Salomon France Inter radio.
As of Monday in Italy was almost 28 000 cases and over 1,800 deaths.
The government’s aid package delay payments on mortgages, loans and taxes, as well as offering extended leave to care for a child, sick leave is for people quarantined, vouchers for childcare and grants for self-employed and seasonal workers.
“We never thought to fight floods,” said Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. “We’re trying to build a dam to protect businesses, families and workers.”
