ROME (AP) – Tighter restrictions aimed at restoring growing coronavirus infections have taken place in much of Italy and parts of Poland, while in France, Paris risks being slapped by a weekend blockade, as ICUs are close to saturation with patients with COVID-19.
According to a decision by the Italian government at the end of last week, 80% of schoolchildren, from kindergarten to high school, have been blocked from class since Monday. The growing number of ICU beds occupied by patients with COVID-19, the steady increase in the number of daily cases and the transmission of the infection, mainly due to a virus variant first discovered in the UK, have combined to make the new government of Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi to apply the name of “red zone” in several regions, including, for the first time since the creation of the color level system last autumn, on Lazio, the region including Rome.
In the red zone, restaurants and cafes can only make deliveries or deliveries, non-essential shops are closed and residents must stay close to home, except for work, health or shopping for necessities. Over the weekend, many hair salons extended their last-minute customer care programs, and crowds crowded the shopping streets, parks and seaside promenades before the crackdown took effect.
On Monday, the reality sank.
In a country where coffee is properly taken at a counter or coffee table, and not in a paper cup, Alessandra Lorisa took off her mask and sipped hers. -a market in Rome. “So far, it’s become part of our routine,” she said. “It’s much more American, if we can say that,” she added, expressing hope that after Easter “we can see some improvement, to get back to the routines we were used to.”
On Friday, Draghi promised a quick infusion of pandemic aid to closed businesses.
Beyond the commercial aspects, the parents expressed their concern towards the children excluded from the classrooms. “They have little interaction now with their friends, they have to celebrate their birthdays on their own,” said Marco Pacciani as he walked through a park in Rome with his young son.
In Poland, amid sharp increases in the number of new infections and patients hospitalized with COVID-19, restrictions have been tightened in two other regions, including the capital, Warsaw and a western province bordering Germany. Two other provinces were already under restrictions.
Under increased measures, hotels and shopping malls must remain closed, as must theaters, cinemas, fitness clubs and sports facilities. Pupils aged 6 to 9 will have a combination of classroom and distance learning.
An inexorable increase in the number of patients treated in French intensive care hospitals, especially in the Paris region, increases the pressure on the government of President Emmanuel Macron. As in other parts of Europe, virus variants are suspected of increasing food in severe cases in France. Macron’s government has tried to stop another nationwide punitive blockade in 2021, instead of opting for a nationwide 18:00 to 6:00 contest.
It is expected to be decided in a few days whether the Paris region and its 12 million inhabitants will be blocked over the weekend.
Last week, the countries of the Western Balkans announced a tightening of measures amid rising numbers of cases in Serbia, Bosnia and Montenegro.
While receiving 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 canton of Sarajevo will be closed for next weekend.
In Serbia, Prime Minister Ana Brnabic has recently criticized the organization of two concerts by a popular band at a venue in Belgrade. The country of 7 million has vaccinated more than 1.5 million people, which is one of the highest rates in Europe.
At the western edge of the continent, Portugal stood out as an outlier. It came out of a two-month pandemic blockade on Monday, with the country gradually reopening over the next seven weeks, except for failures.
Primary schools and kindergartens, hair salons and bookstores were among the places that reopened on Monday. Prime Minister António Costa said in a tweet on Monday that the process must be “very prudent, gradual and fragmented”.
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PA reporters from all over Europe contributed to this report.