A woman walks past a poster featuring a nurse wearing a protective mask and thanks all the advocates who supported the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic in a street in Rennes, western France, on 02 November 2020, as France under a new general lockout is restricting the spread of the Covid-19 new coronavirus.
Damien Meyer | AFP | Getty Images
More than a year after the coronavirus hit Europe for the first time, most of the mainland has spent Easter – usually a major holiday in the region – struggling with a third-wave virus infection.
“It’s just a big mess. Everyone is frustrated with the government,” Hannah Weiler, a medical student in Cologne, Germany, told CNBC.
The German government dropped plans for the national exclusion of Easter just a day after it was announced at the end of March, leaving the measures in the country’s 16 federal states. But Chancellor Angela Merkel urged residents to stay home for the long weekend.
“Germany is an excellent example of absurdity,” Weiler said. “All 16 federal states are doing their own thing and it seems like the government cannot come up with a clear strategy. ‘
The ‘mood really started to go downhill’, she said, ‘which the politicians interpret as a wish for looser restrictions, so they started opening shops … Surprise, surprise, business is rising and we are now in the third wave . ‘
In all, Germany registered just over 2.9 million cases of coronavirus and more than 77,000 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The daily number of figures in the past month has decreased between about 9,000 and 20,000 per day, and it was not yet the highest point of 49,000 cases in a single day at the end of December. Germany’s highest level in the spring of last year, which caused the initial exclusion, was just over 6,000.
A pedestrian wearing a protective face mask walks past a street art mural by French street artist JBC, as a tribute to health workers depicting a nurse wearing a protective face mask referring to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) March 24, 2021 in Paris. , France.
Chesnot | Getty Images
France and Italy closed nationwide before Easter weekend as a boom in business related to the more contagious variant identified in the UK late last year would once again overwhelm the intensive care units.
Italy has announced a strict three-day closure for the normally lively holiday in the heavily Catholic country, banning all unimportant travel but allowing churches to remain open and allowing people to have Easter meals at home with a maximum of two other adults to have.
Italy has recorded 3.6 million cases of the virus and more than 111,000 deaths. This is the highest death rate in Europe after the UK. According to Hopkins, its daily incidence is about 20,000. This is about half the number seen during its peak in November, but compared to about 13,000 cases per day in February and well above the spring 2020 peak of about 6,000 per day.
France: Daily affairs have tripled since February
Daily new Covid cases in France rose, and the country registered more than 66,000 new cases on Sunday alone – doubling the daily case in February. Local media reported that French hospitals were overwhelmed.
This is more than 1,000% higher than during France’s first wave in the spring of last year, which, according to French government figures, saw new daily cases in the 5,000s at the highest level in early April 2020. Officials now fear a return to November’s record levels of contagion when the country registered nearly 90,000 new cases within a day.
The EU has been criticized for its deployment of vaccines, following those of the UK and US
Spain now fears a similar fate as France and Spanish Health Minister Carolina Darias has urged local health authorities to keep vaccinations going during the Easter weekend.
France recorded the most coronavirus cases in Europe and the fourth highest number in the world with 4.8 million in total and more than 96,000 deaths.
“At this point, almost everyone has lost confidence in the way the French government is handling Covid,” Liz Warren, an American living in Paris, told CNBC.
“Nobody really understands the measures that have been taken – ie the places of worship remain open and non-essential shops are forced to close. This is a big mess and I do not foresee that this country will be the US or the UK catch up until at least the fall. “
Police in Paris are deploying 6,600 officers to enforce the lock-in rules, the curfew runs from 19:00 to 06:00 and gatherings of more than six are prohibited. But Warren and other French residents find the latest measures more relaxed than previous lock-up cars: unlike in the past, there is no time limit on how long people can stay outside, and residents are allowed to travel within ten kilometers of their homes. as opposed to just 1 mile in recent times.
Yet, after months of changing measures and inconsistent messages from the government, many in France do not think the rules for closure will be widely adhered to.
“For me, with the third incarceration, I had enough,” said Romain Baudelet, a student in the coastal city of La Rochelle. “I do not think it will be followed very well here.”