Germany decided to shut bars and restaurants for a month on Wednesday and France prepared to tighten controls on movement as the coronavirus surged across Europe and financial markets tumbled at the likely cost of a second lockdown.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel met state premiers in a videoconference on Wednesday and agreed a partial lockdown that will see bars and restaurants closing from November 2 to November 30 and shops allowed to remain open on condition they set strict social distancing limits, people familiar with the talks said.
Cinemas, theatres, concert halls, sports facilities, and trade fairs will also be closed, the sources said.
In France, which has seen more than 50,000 new cases a day, President Emmanuel Macron will give a televised address in the evening and is expected to announce further curbs on movement following the curfew measures introduced across much of the country last week.
News television BFM TV reported that the government was considering a month-long lockdown from midnight on Thursday, but there was no confirmation from Macron’s office.
The measures in Germany and France, following similar moves in Italy and Spain, are expected to leave schools and most businesses working and would be less severe than the near-total lockdowns imposed at the start of the crisis in March and April.
Also read - Huge anti-France rally in Bangladesh as Macron backlash widen
But the economic cost is likely to be heavy, wiping out the fragile signs of recovery seen over the summer and raising the prospect of a double-dip recession.
European stock markets hit their lowest levels since June on Wednesday while the euro fell against the dollar and the Cboe Volatility Index .VIX, known as Wall Street’s “fear gauge”, surged to its highest level in nearly two months.
To help soften the impact, German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz is expected to make available up to 10 billion euros ($11.82 billion) in aid and step up government borrowing while Italy has set aside more than 5 billion euro to help affected businesses.
While leaders have been desperate to avoid the crippling cost of lockdowns, the new measures reflect mounting alarm at the galloping pace of the pandemic from Spain, France and Germany to Russia, Poland, and Bulgaria.
“If we wait until the intensive care units are full, it will be too late,” said German Health Minister Jens Spahn, whose country has already taken in patients from its neighbour the Netherlands, where hospitals have reached their limits.