Europe tackles fresh Covid-19 surge with targeted strategies
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Paris/London/Berlin — Tucked in a side street of Paris’s bustling Boulevard du Montparnasse, a tidy bistro is struggling without executives talking business at lunch and tourists sampling the Japanese-inspired French delicacies in the evening.
La Cette’s owner Xavier Bousquet is concerned tables will stay empty as the coronavirus flares up across Europe — including new highs in France. The outbreak is bringing with it an unpredictable hodge podge of restrictions that might be almost as debilitating as earlier lockdowns.
“It’s an economic catastrophe,” said Bousquet. “There’s going to be a domino effect among bars and restaurants. I know plenty that are going to close.”
Europe’s sputtering recovery could falter if another hit comes. People remain nervous about shopping for non-essentials as cases rise and tens of thousands of job cuts cause anxiety about the future. Governments are resisting nationwide restrictions on movement while they navigate this delicate phase, opting instead for piecemeal measures.
There’s mandatory face masks in Paris, shut nightclubs in Italy and Germany’s expanded list of travel advisories to include Paris, Brussels and Madrid. In England, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has banned all social gatherings of more than six people from next week.
Despite thousands of more cases after a summer of lax adherence to social-distancing and hygiene rules, death and hospitalisation rates are rising more slowly. That’s easing pressure on governments to take harsh action for now, but virus experts warn against a false sense of security.
Due to spreading among holidaymakers and young partygoers, the average age of those infected in Germany has plummeted from 51 during the spring peak to 33 last week, according to the Robert Koch Institute. Similar trends are evident elsewhere in Europe.
But if the virus emerges again in older populations, that will change, the nation’s public health authority said in a report on Wednesday. French health minister Olivier Veran echoed the sentiment, saying: “The virus hasn’t magically mutated to be less nasty.”
Still, officials insist they can handle the disease for the time being. Italy, the original epicentre of the crisis in Europe, has kept a lid on infections. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said the country won’t need to revive its stringent lockdown. “At worst, we’ll have to intervene in a targeted way,” he said at the weekend.
While Chancellor Angela Merkel recently warned that the pandemic will get worse before it gets better, officials in Germany are optimistic ...
La Cette’s owner Xavier Bousquet is concerned tables will stay empty as the coronavirus flares up across Europe — including new highs in France. The outbreak is bringing with it an unpredictable hodge podge of restrictions that might be almost as debilitating as earlier lockdowns.
“It’s an economic catastrophe,” said Bousquet. “There’s going to be a domino effect among bars and restaurants. I know plenty that are going to close.”
Europe’s sputtering recovery could falter if another hit comes. People remain nervous about shopping for non-essentials as cases rise and tens of thousands of job cuts cause anxiety about the future. Governments are resisting nationwide restrictions on movement while they navigate this delicate phase, opting instead for piecemeal measures.
There’s mandatory face masks in Paris, shut nightclubs in Italy and Germany’s expanded list of travel advisories to include Paris, Brussels and Madrid. In England, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has banned all social gatherings of more than six people from next week.
Despite thousands of more cases after a summer of lax adherence to social-distancing and hygiene rules, death and hospitalisation rates are rising more slowly. That’s easing pressure on governments to take harsh action for now, but virus experts warn against a false sense of security.
Due to spreading among holidaymakers and young partygoers, the average age of those infected in Germany has plummeted from 51 during the spring peak to 33 last week, according to the Robert Koch Institute. Similar trends are evident elsewhere in Europe.
But if the virus emerges again in older populations, that will change, the nation’s public health authority said in a report on Wednesday. French health minister Olivier Veran echoed the sentiment, saying: “The virus hasn’t magically mutated to be less nasty.”
Still, officials insist they can handle the disease for the time being. Italy, the original epicentre of the crisis in Europe, has kept a lid on infections. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said the country won’t need to revive its stringent lockdown. “At worst, we’ll have to intervene in a targeted way,” he said at the weekend.
While Chancellor Angela Merkel recently warned that the pandemic will get worse before it gets better, officials in Germany are optimistic ...