Poland, France and Ukraine have introduced partial blockades as they fight growing coronavirus infections.
Residents of Poland, parts of France, including Paris and the Ukrainian capital Kiev faced new restrictions on Saturday, with most shops closed and people being urged to work from home.
The imposition of new borders comes as the pace of implementation of EU vaccination remains slow and more Member States are facing a third wave of viruses.
In France, the government introduced new measures after a leap in the COVID-19 cases in Paris and other parts of northern France.
Under the new measures, non-essential businesses in Paris are closed, while schools remain open and outdoor exercises are allowed up to 10 kilometers (six miles) from home.
As in previous blockades, a form will be needed to justify why a person has left home in areas under the new restrictions.
President Emmanuel Macron insisted on Friday that the word “blockade” is not appropriate to describe the government’s strategy.
“What we want is to put the brakes on the virus without shutting down. It’s not blocked,” he said at a meeting at the Elysee Palace. “Strictly speaking, the blocking term is not correct,” he added.
The government says measures are needed to ease the pressure on intensive care units that are close to overflowing.
Stacked tables are seen on the terrace of a closed restaurant in Nice, as the 16 most affected departments in France will enter a third blockade imposed to slow the rate of coronavirus disease [Eric Gaillard/Reuters]The third wave
Al Jazeera’s report, Natacha Butler of Paris, said that despite these measures being more flexible than the previous ones, the government insisted that it was important to follow them.
“They are asking employers to make sure that as many employees as possible can work from home … the government says … that parts of the country are firmly in a third wave.
“COVID infections have increased in the last few weeks, almost 40,000 a day in recent days, which is certainly much higher than 10 days ago, when they were about 20,000 a day.
“And in Paris, doctors say that intensive care units are almost saturated, in fact, some hospitals in the city have had to take their patients from the city to hospitals in different regions of France,” Butler said.
Meanwhile, in Germany, cases are growing at a “very exponential rate,” a top public health institute said on Friday, with many expecting new restrictions on professional and social life to be introduced in the coming days.
The Robert Koch Institute has reported 17,482 new infections in the last 24 hours and 226 deaths in Germany, with a seven-day incidence rate rising to 96 per 100,000 people, despite the closure of large areas of public life for several months.
German leaders agreed earlier this month to impose new restrictions in regions where the seven-day incidence rate exceeded 100.
“We are in the third wave of the pandemic, the number is increasing, the percentage of virus mutations is high,” Health Minister Jens Spahn told a news conference.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday that Germany should not hesitate to introduce emergency measures and return to a hard blockade, if necessary.
A woman with flowers on her head participates in a protest against government restrictions on coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Kassel, Germany [Thilo Schmuelgen/Reuters]
Frustrations with COVID-19 curbs spilled over on Saturday, with outbreaks erupting in a major anti-restriction protest in the German city of Kassel and thousands joining a similar demonstration in Liestal, Switzerland.
“End the blockade” and “Crown of the rebels” read signs held by protesters at the Kassel protest, which was organized by a group that attracted both far-left and far-right activists, as well as anti-vaxxers and theorists. conspiracy.
“I think that Europe and many other countries around the world are, or at least the population perceives, that they are in an endless cycle of growing epidemics and declining epidemics, and that cycle is accompanied by subsequent blockages and relaxations,” Marc Van Ranst, a professor at the University of Leuven and the Rega Institute for Medical Research, said.
“This puts a lot of pressure on the population to keep morale high, it’s not easy … and I think the only solution to stop the endless cycle will be the vaccination program,” he added.
Globally, COVID-19 killed 2.7 million people, while more than 69 million recovered, according to data released by Johns Hopkins University.