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France and Germany Impose Strict Monthlong Lockdowns to Control Virus Spread
Posted
October 28, 2020
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1:08
1:39Now PlayingGermany and France will clamp down on movement for at least a month, coming close to the stringent lockdowns in the spring as Europe seeks to regain control of the rapid spread of the coronavirus.
The European Union’s two biggest economies will shutter bars, restaurants and non-essential services, while allowing schools and most businesses to operate. The approach by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel seeks to strike a balance between protecting public health and avoiding another debilitating blow to the economy.
“Today is a difficult day, for policymakers as well,” Merkel said at a press conference in Berlin. “We know what we’re demanding of the people.”
France’s shutdown will start on Friday, while Germany’s restrictions will take effect on Monday. The moves are part of a series of tighter measures being imposed by governments across Europe, where more than 210,000 people have died from the disease and nearly 6.5 million have been infected.
Germany, the U.K., Italy, Spain and Greece reported record daily increases in cases on Wednesday, while France’s weekly pace has been climbing for the past 26 days.
Supermarkets and hairdressing salons, under existing hygiene regulations
Bloomberg Economics estimated that the impact of the measures will likely be much lower than the April lockdown, but still depress German output by about 0.6 percentage points in the fourth quarter.
After failing to secure new measures two weeks ago, Merkel’s proposal was adopted almost entirely after cases surged since then. The German leader said that 75% of new infections couldn’t be tracked to their origin and hospitals risked being overwhelmed within weeks if trends continued.
But there were still signs of division. The state of Thuringia requested that German parliament be asked to declare a national health emergency and back the measures -- largely an effort to check the authority of Merkel’s administration. Officials will gather again in two weeks to assess the impact of the measures.
“I’m thankful that we reached agreement here after long discussions,” Merkel said. “We don’t want to fall into a national health emergency.”
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