ROME (AP) – Stricter restrictions aimed at attenuating rising coronavirus infections took hold in many parts of Italy and parts of Poland on Monday, while Paris in France is in danger of being closed at the end of the weekend, since ICUs are almost saturated with COVID-19 patients.
In accordance with an Italian government decision late last week, 80% of school children, from kindergartens to high schools, were locked out of class from Monday. The increasing number of ICU beds occupied by COVID-19 patients, the increasing daily caseload and the spread of infections, mainly driven by a virus variant first discovered in Britain, contributed to the Italian Prime Minister, Mario Draghi,’s new government applies ‘red zone’ designation in more regions. , including, for the first time since the color layer system was created last fall, in Lazio, the region including Rome.
In the regions with a red area, restaurants and cafes can only do delivery or delivery, non-essential shops are closed and residents have to stay close to home, except for work, health or shopping for necessities. Over the weekend, many hair salons extended the hours to deal with customers on the spur of the moment, and crowds gathered shopping streets, parks and beach promenades before the suppression took effect.
On Monday, reality collapses.
In a country where coffee is, properly, taken at a coffee counter or table, and not in some disposable paper cup, Alessandra Lorisa takes off her mask and drinks her in a Roman piazza. “By this time, it had become part of our routine,” she said. “It’s a lot more American, if we can say it,” she adds, expressing the hope that after Easter “we can see some improvements to get back to the routines we were used to.”
Draghi on Friday promised a speedy administration of pandemic aid to sham businesses.
In addition to the commercial aspects, parents expressed concern about children being excluded outside the classrooms. “They have little interaction with their friends now, they have to celebrate their birthdays alone,” Marco Pacciani said as he walked with his young son through a park in Rome.
In Poland, amid a sharp increase in the number of new infections and COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital, restrictions have been tightened in two more regions, including the capital, Warsaw, and a western province facing Germany borders. Two other provinces were already under restrictions.
Under the increased measures, hotels and shopping centers must remain closed, as well as theaters, cinemas, fitness clubs and sports facilities. School children aged 6-9 have a combination of teaching in class and at a distance.
A relentless increase in the number of patients being treated in French hospital needs, especially in the Paris region, is increasing the pressure on the government of President Emmanuel Macron. As elsewhere in Europe, virus variants are suspected to have fueled severe cases in France. The Macron government tried to block another nationwide shutdown in 2021, but preferred a nationwide evening clock between 6pm and 6am.
The expectation that a decision will be made in a few days is whether the region of Paris and its 12 million inhabitants will be locked up over weekends.
Last week, countries in the Western Balkans announced that the measures would be tightened amid an increase in cases in Serbia, Bosnia and Montenegro.
When they received the first vaccines on Wednesday, doctors in the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, warned that the virus had exploded in recent days. Bars, restaurants and non-essential shops in the Sarajevo canton will be closed for the coming weekend.
In Serbia, Prime Minister Ana Brnabic has criticized the holding of two concerts by a popular orchestra in a Belgrade hall in recent days. The country of 7 million has vaccinated more than 1.5 million people, which is one of the highest percentages in Europe.
On the west side of the continent, Portugal stood out as an outlier. It emerged on Monday from a two-month-long pandemic, with the country gradually reopening over the next seven weeks, hampering setbacks again.
Primary and nursery schools, hair salons and bookstores were among the places reopened Monday. The Prime Minister, António Costa, said in a tweet on Monday that the process must be ‘very sensible, gradual and broken’.
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AP reporters across Europe contributed to this report.