France has imposed a third national lockdown as the country battles a surge in cases of Covid-19 that threatens to overwhelm its hospitals.
All schools and non-essential shops will shut for four weeks, and a curfew will be in place from 19:00 to 06:00.
On April 2, the number of seriously ill Covid-19 patients in ICU increased by 145 – the biggest jump in five months.
President Emmanuel Macron has promised more hospital beds for Covid patients.
France is currently battling a peak of about 5,000 Covid patients in ICUs. On April 2, the country recorded 46,677 new cases and 304 deaths.
As well as the restrictions that came into force on April 3, from April 6 people will also need a valid reason to travel more than 6 miles from their homes.
President Macron had hoped to keep France’s coronavirus cases under control without having to impose another lockdown.
However, France has struggled with an EU-wide delay in the vaccine rollout, as well as several new strains of the virus.
In Germany, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called on people to play their part and get vaccinated.
Speaking in a TV address to the nation on April 3, he said Germany was in the middle of a third wave and that it faced more restrictions.
The German also admitted that mistakes had been made – specifically in testing and in the vaccine rollout – and talked about there being a “crisis of trust” in the state.
Last month, German officials announced that the country would be placed in a strict Easter lockdown – only to reverse the decision just days later.
Chancellor Angela Merkel called the plan for a lockdown from April 1 to 5 a “mistake”, and said she took “ultimate responsibility” for the U-turn.
Italy also entered a strict three-day lockdown on April 3 in order to try to prevent a surge in Covid-19 cases over the Easter weekend.
All regions are now in the “red zone” – the highest tier of restrictions – as the country records about 20,000 new cases a day.
Non-essential movement is banned, but people are allowed to have an Easter meal in their homes with two others. Churches are also open, but worshippers are being told to attend services within their regions.
On April 4, for the second year, Pope Francis will deliver his Easter message to an empty St Peter’s Square.
France and Poland have re-imposed partial lockdowns as both countries battle a sharp rise in Covid-19 infections in recent weeks.
In France, some 21 million people in 16 areas, including Paris, are affected as the country fears a third wave.
In Poland, non-essential shops, hotels, cultural and sporting facilities are now closed for three weeks.
Poland has the highest new daily rates of Covid-19 cases since November 2020.
Covid-19 cases are also rising exponentially in Germany, with Chancellor Angela Merkel warning it is likely that the country will now need to apply an “emergency brake” and re-impose lockdown measures.
The vaccine rollout across the EU has been hindered by delayed deliveries, as well as the suspension in several countries of the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, over fears of possible side effects.
In France, the partial lockdown took effect from midnight on March 19.
Trains leaving Paris for parts of the country where lockdown restrictions do not apply, such as Brittany and Lyon, were reportedly fully booked hours before the measures were due to come into effect.
Traffic jams were reported on several roads leaving the capital.
The new restrictions are not as strict as the previous lockdown, with people allowed to exercise outdoors.
Non-essential businesses are shut, but schools remain open, along with hairdressers if they follow a “particular sanitary protocol”.
France has reported more than 4.2 million infections since the start of the outbreak, with nearly 92,000 Covid-related deaths, according to the data compiled by Johns Hopkins University in the US.
In Poland, the three-week lockdown began on March 20.
Polish health officials earlier warned the nationwide restrictions were necessary because of a rampant British variant of Covid-19 in the country. The variant now makes up more than 60% of infections.
Poland has had more than two million confirmed infections, and nearly 49,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Germany said on March 19 it was now classifying neighboring Poland as high risk. This means that from March 21 anyone crossing the border from Poland must provide a negative coronavirus test.
Despite assurances from the European medicines regulator that the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe and effective, some countries remain reluctant to resume their campaigns using the jab.
Germany, Italy, France, Spain and the Netherlands are among the countries that have restarted their AstraZeneca vaccination campaigns.
Health authorities in France have recommended that the AstraZeneca vaccine be offered only to people aged 55 and over.
Finland’s health authority has announced a pause in its use of the vaccine that will last at least a week. That move, which follows two reports of blood clots in patients who had received the jab in the country, was said to be a precautionary measure.
Meanwhile, Sweden, Denmark and Norway said on March 19 that they needed more time to determine whether they should resume AstraZeneca inoculations.
On March 20, Denmark said that two members of hospital staff in Copenhagen had developed blood clots after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has reviewed the AstraZeneca vaccine over fears of a link to blood clots and found it was not associated with a higher risk of clots.
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