Rome (AFP)
General confinements in France or England, partial like Portugal, night curfews like in Italy: one after the other European countries are announcing new restrictions in the face of a virus that continues to spread.
The Covid-19 epidemic has killed at least 1.2 million people worldwide, with the United States anxiously awaiting the results of the presidential election with the most deaths (more than 231,000).
But Europe is the region where the virus is progressing the fastest: more than 11 million cases have been identified there, half of which are distributed between Russia, which on Wednesday recorded new records of contaminations and deaths, France, Spain and the United Kingdom.
In Italy, still traumatized by the first wave of spring, the head of government Giuseppe Conte signed a decree overnight establishing a curfew throughout the national territory from Thursday.
It will be forbidden to drive between 10 p.m. (9 p.m. GMT) and 5 a.m., until December 3.
High schools will be closed and shopping malls will also have to close during the weekend.
First country affected in Europe by the Covid-19 epidemic in February, Italy recorded more than 39,000 deaths for more than 750,000 cases.
- English pubs are sorry -
After France, where the number of deaths linked to Covid-19 continues to increase with 430 deaths in 24 hours announced Tuesday evening, Germany or Belgium, the United Kingdom is preparing to confine itself on Thursday.
Already strained by months of a pandemic, English pubs, the epicenter of social life, serve their last pints with anguish on Wednesday before at least a month of confinement.
In the bustling London district of Soho, Joe Curran, owner of The Queen's Head pub, wonders what will happen to his business.
"We will pay for this for years. This closure will cost us thousands (of pounds) additional, out of the thousands already engaged," he laments, interviewed by AFP.
"When you're hanging on to a thread, you have to seriously think about what that entails."
Until December 2, non-essential businesses in England will have to close, while restaurants, pubs and cafes will only be able to offer deliveries or take out.
However, schools will remain open in the most bereaved country in Europe with nearly 47,000 dead.
In Portugal, most of the country entered a new lockdown on Wednesday, lighter than that of spring, but the government could soon take more stringent measures.
The re-containment affects around 70% of a population of some ten million and will remain in effect for at least two weeks.
Teleworking is now compulsory, but schools remain open, as well as shops and restaurants, which must however close their doors earlier.
- The Finnish exception -
Elsewhere in Europe, the Netherlands have tightened restrictions, closing museums, cinemas, zoos, sex clubs and other places open to the public for two weeks.
Austria, where an Islamist attack killed four people on Monday evening, now lives under nighttime curfew, and private meetings are limited to two homes maximum.
In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has imposed the return of the state of emergency allowing him to govern by decree, saying he fears the saturation of hospitals by mid-December.
The curfew was imposed from midnight to 5 a.m. in the country whose foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto, has tested positive.
Turkey now requires its restaurants, cultural places and most shops to close before 10 p.m.
Greece is "preparing for the worst-case scenario", government spokesman Stelios Petsas said on Tuesday.
A curfew from midnight to 5 a.m. has already been imposed since October 22 and new restrictions came into force on Tuesday.
Russia for its part recorded 19,768 new cases of the new coronavirus and 389 deaths on Wednesday, breaking records set a few days ago.
But the authorities still ensure that they are not planning major containment measures in the country, which has recorded 1,693,454 cases and 29,217 deaths since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
And at a time when most European countries are toughening their measures, sometimes angering the people, Finland is showing a whole different trend: the infection rate is falling and the inhabitants largely support the restrictions.
© 2020 AFP