Mon 02 November 2020:
Anger and exasperation over new coronavirus curbs grew Sunday as European nations wound back the clocks to the spring with fresh lockdowns and restrictions aimed at halting galloping infections and deaths.
Protesters in several Spanish cities clashed with security forces for a second night running Saturday, police said, while England prepared for fresh stay-at-home orders, following in the steps of Austria, France and Ireland.
Over 7 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and over 250,000 virus-related deaths have been reported across the continent since the start of the pandemic. In recent days, European nations from Britain to Italy have reinstituted restrictions ranging from reduced business hours and curfews to partial or near-total lockdowns to control the surge of infections sweeping the continent.
The conflict between reining in personal desires for the greater public good or giving in to individual pleasure is at the heart of Europe’s renewed struggle against the virus.
In England, many expressed anxiety about the economic cost of the four-week shutdown due to take effect from Thursday, even if it will not be as strict as before with schools and universities allowed to remain open, like in France.
To curb the spike in Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel has ordered a round of shutdowns from Monday until the end of the month. Public life in Germany has been brought to a near-standstill as part of a four-week shutdown in Europe’s largest economy in a bid to stem a surge in coronavirus infections.
Restaurants and bars will be shuttered along with cinemas, theaters, museums and other cultural and recreational facilities. For the next four weeks initially, domestic tourism has essentially been banned in Germany.
Across most of the country’s 16 states, outdoor gatherings are limited to members of no more than two households, with a maximum of 10 people. In some regions, this also applies to gatherings in the home.
Protest
The biggest disturbances were in Madrid where scores of demonstrators chanting “freedom!” torched rubbish bins and set up makeshift barricades on the city’s main thoroughfare, the Gran Via, images on social media showed.
Italy was also the scene of protests last week.
But the government there is still expected to announce new restrictions on Monday, according to news reports.
These are expected to include banning travel between regions, closing shopping centres at the weekend, limiting commercial activity and imposing an earlier nighttime curfew.
“The epidemiological curve is still very high,” Health Minister Roberto Speranza, who has been pushing for a nationwide lockdown, told the Corriere della Sera daily.
“What worries me is the absolute figure, which shows a terrifying curve. Either we bend it, or we are in trouble,” he said.
Restrictions also led to unrest in Argentina, where riots took place in several jails in Buenos Aires province on Saturday, as prisoners demanded the resumption of visits during the pandemic.
The virus has infected more than 46 million people worldwide, with over 1.2 million deaths. The U.S. is the worst-affected country in the world with 9.2 million infections and more than 230,000 deaths and the pandemic has been front and center during the bitter election campaign.
With cases surging again, experts have warned of more devastation. Top government scientist Anthony Fauci told the Washington Post in an interview that the U.S. is “in for a whole lot of hurt.”
The threat of the virus was illustrated further Sunday when the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that he was self-quarantining after someone he had been in contact with tested positive.
“I am well and without symptoms but will self-quarantine over the coming days, in line with @WHO protocols, and work from home,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a tweet, stressing the importance of complying with coronavirus guidance.
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