France and Germany announce second national lockdowns

Germany and France, two of Europe’s largest live music markets, have ordered sweeping restrictions in a bid to temper a second wave of coronavirus.

French president Emmanuel Macron has announced a second national lockdown, starting from tomorrow (30 October) until at least the end of November.

Under the new stringent measures, all non-essential business will close and residents will only be permitted to leave home for essential work or medical reasons.

Covid daily deaths in France are at the highest level since April with over 36,000 cases confirmed yesterday (28 October).

President Macron said the country risked being “overwhelmed by a second wave that no doubt will be harder than the first”.

Elsewhere, Germany is imposing a ‘soft’ national lockdown, with new measures coming into force from next Monday (2 November).

President Macron said the country risked being “overwhelmed by a second wave that no doubt will be harder than the first”

Restaurants, bars, leisure facilities and cultural institutes will be forced to close until the end of November, alongside the majority of businesses and workplaces, while public gatherings will be limited to two households or up to 10 people.

Schools, nurseries, hairdressers and shops, however, will stay open.

German chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday morning that the number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care had doubled in the last 10 days, and hospitals would be overwhelmed within weeks unless further steps were taken to curb the spread of the virus.

Merkel also said that contact tracing operations in many parts of the country had broken down, with authorities unable to locate the origin of 75% of infections.

German health officials said today that another 89 people had died in the past 24 hours, with a record 16,774 infections.

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