FRANCE, GERMANY BACK INTO LOCKDOWN AS COVID CASES RISE

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel ordered their countries back into lockdown, as a massive second wave of coronavirus infections threatened to overwhelm Europe before the winter. 

“The virus is circulating at a speed that not even the most pessimistic forecasts had anticipated,” Macron said in a televised address. “Like all our neighbors, we are submerged by the sudden acceleration of the virus. We are all in the same position: overrun by a second wave which we know will be harder, more deadly than the first,” Andreas Rinke and Sudip Kar-Gupta reported for Reuters. 

Under the new French measures which come into force on Friday, people will be required to stay in their homes except to buy essential goods, seek medical attention, or exercise for up to one hour a day. They will be permitted to go to work if their employer deems it impossible for them to do the job from home. Schools will stay open. 

Germany will shut bars, restaurants and theatres from Nov. 2-30 under measures agreed between Merkel and heads of regional governments. Schools will stay open, and shops will be allowed to operate with strict limits on access. In Italy, protests have broken out in response to a month-long increase in restrictions, which includes a 6 p.m. closing time for bars and restaurants. “The continued spread of the virus and enactment of new measures risk slowing or reversing the bounce back in European growth in recent months, and delay the pace at which economic activity can return,” Mark Haefele, chief investment officer for UBS Global Wealth Management, wrote to clients this week, Christopher F. Schuetze reported for the New York Times.