By PFW News
Both French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor
Angela Merkel announced fresh lockdowns of their citizens on
Wednesday.
France will head into the new lockdown starting Friday under
which citizens can only leave home to go to work, to go to school,
for a medical appointment, to give assistance to loved ones, for
essential shopping or for physical�exercise, as
DW reports.
The latest restrictions also include (courtesy of DW):
- Travel between regions is banned
- Bars, restaurants and nonessential businesses will be
closed - Work must be done remotely wherever possible
- Universities and higher education will mostly be taught
online - International borders will be largely closed
What will be allowed:
- Schools will remain open
- Essential businesses will remain open
- Most public services will remain open
- Factories, farms and construction sites can continue work
- EU borders will remain open
- French citizens can return from overseas
- Retirement homes can accept visits
- Funerals are still possible
The lockdown in France is expected to last until December 1st
with a reassessment occurring 15 days in.
French bureaucrats recorded 523 virus-related deaths on Tuesday,
bringing the country’s overall death toll to 35,541.
French President Macron would
say on Wednesday:
We are now overwhelmed by the sudden acceleration of the
epidemic, by a virus that seems to be gaining strength as
temperatures drop. All of us in Europe are surprised by the
evolution of the virus. Some countries have taken tougher measures
earlier, but we are all at the same point. Whatever we do now,
9,000 patients will be in intensive care by mid-November. We are
now organising to deal with this.Whatever we do now, 9,000 patients
will be in intensive care by mid-NovemberIn this context, my responsibility is to protect all French
people and despite the controversies, despite the difficulties of
the decisions to be taken, I fully assume this responsibility
before you.
Meanwhile, in Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed to
imposing “partial†lockdown measures that will shutdown of
restaurants, bars, cinemas, theaters and other leisure facilities
from November 2-30.
“We need to take action now,†Merkel said. “Our health
system can still cope with this challenge today, but at this speed
of infections it will reach the limits of its capacity within
weeks.â€
Merkel’s finance minister tweeted Wednesday:
November will be a month of truth. The increasing number of
infections is forcing us to take tough countermeasures now to avoid
the second #Corona
– Break the wave – with targeted and temporary measures,
including effective financial aid for the industries
concerned.#FlattenTheCurve
Der November wird ein Monat
der Wahrheit. Die steigenden Infektionszahlen zwingen uns, jetzt
hart gegenzusteuern, um die zweite
#Corona-Welle zu brechen – mit gezielten und befristeten
Maßnahmen, inklusive wirksamer Finanzhilfen für die betroffenen
Branchen.
#FlattenTheCurve— Olaf Scholz (@OlafScholz)
October 28, 2020
Germany’s disease control agency said a record 14,964 new
confirmed cases were recorded across the country in the past day,
bringing the national total to 449,275.
The decision for new lockdown measures comes just weeks after
World Health Organization envoy Dr. David Nabarro cautioned the
world: “We in the World Health Organization do not advocate
lockdowns as the primary means of control of this virus,†WHO
envoy Dr. David Nabarro said in early October.
The only time we believe a lockdown is justified is to
buy you time to reorganize, regroup, rebalance your resources,
protect your health workers who are exhausted, but by and large,
we’d rather not do it.
WATCH: Dr David Nabarro, the
WHO’s Special Envoy on Covid-19, tells Andrew Neil: ‘We really do
appeal to all world leaders: stop using lockdown as your primary
control method’. Watch the full interview here: https://t.co/XLdaedsKVS
#SpectatorTV @afneil |
@davidnabarro
pic.twitter.com/1M4xf3VnXQ— The Spectator (@spectator)
October 9, 2020
Nabarro would chillingly add that:
Lockdowns just have one consequence that you must never,
ever belittle, and that is making poor people an awful lot
poorer.
As we reported earlier, lockdown measures are going to extremes
in many parts of Europe with UK police now saying they will
intervene in Christmas celebrations that violate social
distancing orders issued by government.
Anti-lockdown demonstrations have recently broke out in the UK,
Poland, and Italy.
Source:
Planet Free Will
Image: Emmanuel Macron | Credit: Jacques Paquier/Flickr
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