British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday announced a strict new national exclusion in England. The restrictions will last at least six weeks.
“It is clear that we need to work together more to bring this new variant under control as our vaccines are rolled out,” Johnson said in a speech to the country on Monday night.
“In England, therefore, we have to make a national exclusion that is difficult enough to contain this variant. This means that the government is again instructing you to stay at home,” he added.
Covid-19 cases in the UK reached a new daily record on Tuesday, with 60,916 new infections reported. The UK’s death toll now stands at more than 76,000.
Johnson reinstated the measures seen during the first exclusion last spring. From midnight local time on Tuesday, people in England are allowed to leave their homes only for limited reasons, such as to buy necessities, exercise and medical assistance.
The Prime Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, also said on Monday that most of Scotland on the mainland will be closed from midnight. Wales and Northern Ireland – the other two countries of the United Kingdom – were already in the lock.
Elsewhere in Europe, the Italian government announced on Tuesday that most coronavirus restrictions imposed on the country during the Christmas holidays will be extended until January 15.
People in Italy are only allowed to visit friends once a day, in meetings with a maximum of two adults.
And according to a new government decision, travel between regions will be banned, except for health or work reasons. Restrictions have also been imposed on the hospitality industry, with pubs and restaurants only providing takeaway services.
The German government announced on Tuesday that it would extend the country’s national exclusion (which would end on January 10) until the end of the month and tighten restrictions on movement.
“We will have to toughen the measures,” Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters following a meeting with Germany’s 16 regional leaders in Berlin, warning that hospitals in the country were already overwhelmed, especially intensive care units.
Under the new measures, all shops, restaurants, schools and nurseries that are not essential must remain. People may only meet one person outside their own home.
“We need to restrict contact more strictly … we ask all citizens to keep contact to the absolute minimum,” Merkel said.
And in Greece, the government imposed a strict – but short – lockout, from January 3 to 6 a.m. on January 11.
“The cases of Covid-19 are still high and the pressure on the national health system continues,” Greek government spokesman Stelios Petsas said in a press release on January 2.
“We are staying home these few days, and on January 11 we will return to the current situation with our schools open.”
Schools close their doors
At the heart of many of Europe’s restrictions is the closure of schools.
The British government was initially reluctant to close schools, and drew heavy criticism from teachers’ unions when it insisted that they reopen as planned after the Christmas holidays this week.
But on Monday night, the Prime Minister announced that all primary and secondary schools would close, while students would rather go to remote education.
Johnson also said that GCSEs and A levels – the most important standardized tests for 16- and 18-year-olds – would not be able to continue at the end of the academic year as planned.
Italy follows a different approach. The high schools reopen on January 11, with 50% of the students being taught in class and 50% being taught at a distance.
Kindergarten and primary school pupils in Italy will return to school on 7 January.
“It is useless to reopen the schools only to close it again after a few days,” Sandra Zampa, Italy’s health minister, said in a radio interview on Tuesday.
In Germany, schools switched to distance education in mid-December; a decision on whether it wants to proceed must appear on Tuesday.
In Ireland and Spain, teachers’ unions and local leaders are calling on the authorities to delay their return to school.
The closure of schools is widely regarded as a last resort in Europe, and the pressure to close it underscores the scale of the challenge facing the continent.
CNN’s Chris Liakos, Livia Borghese, Claudia Otto and Nadine Schmidt contributed to this story.