Quarantine imposed by the United Kingdom upon arrival from France entered into force on Saturday August 15, affecting hundreds of thousands of vacationers and providing a new illustration of the restrictions that are resurfacing in the world to contain the novel coronavirus pandemic.
From New Zealand to South Korea, the authorities are imposing local measures to limit what has raised fears in some countries of a new wave of Covid-19 disease contaminations, who mowed more than 758,000 lives worldwide out of more than 21 million recorded cases.
A quarantine imposed in Great Britain
Wearing a mask is becoming compulsory in more and more places in Europe, including outdoors from Saturday morning in many areas of Paris like the Champs-Élysées or the Louvre district.
Faced with the worsening health situation in France, the United Kingdom imposed 14 days of isolation on Saturday for travelers arriving from the country but also from the Netherlands and Malta, a little over a month after having exempted them.
The British or French living in Great Britain on holiday in France rushed Friday on the last trains under the Channel, ferries and flights, spending sometimes exorbitant sums, to anticipate their return and avoid having to stay at home, without being able to go at the office or send the children to school for the start of the school year.
“I wanted to stay in France and now I can’t. So I had to get home and quickly, and today it was very hard to find a train ”, reported Sonja Touret, met on the arrival in London of one of the last Eurostars before the entry into force of the fortnight.
Traffic is now back to normal at the port of Calais, where the queues for cars to board the ferries had reached 45 minutes in the evening. On the departure of the Eurostar from Paris to London, the passengers were resigned.
“We expected it, but 24 hours (between the announcement and the implementation) was too short, impossible for us to foresee anything”, notes Jessica, who returns from vacation at Argelès (South). Julie, who is traveling with her, is preparing to take unpaid leave for the time of quarantine: “It’s complicated because I have a new job”.
The returns from France concern 160,000 people according to the British government, but the British press mentions up to 500,000 travelers.
The United Kingdom “Now advises against all non-essential travel” in France, the British government said on Twitter on Saturday.
Pilgrimage reduced to minimal portions
France regretted the British decision and announced that she would train “A measure of reciprocity”. The Netherlands now advise against non-essential stays in the UK without announcing a quarantine.
The United Kingdom, the most bereaved in Europe by the virus (more than 41,000 dead), fears an outbreak of contamination at the time when it seeks to revive its economy, which suffered a collapse unparalleled on the continent.
On the French side, the authorities are seeking to counter the worsening. In addition to the obligation to wear a mask in larger areas, Paris, where the virus is actively circulating with a positivity rate of 4.14% against 2.4% for the national average, has prohibited gatherings of more than 10 people who do not respect the barrier measures.
In southwestern France, the L’Assomption celebrations which usually attract up to 25,000 pilgrims to Lourdes, one of the most important places of Christian pilgrimage in the world, will be reduced to the minimum portion.
“We will be able to welcome 5,000 pilgrims in the basilica of Saint Pius X and 5,000 in the rest of the sanctuaries”, due to the coronavirus pandemic, said Vincent Cabanac, director of the National Pilgrimage.
Sport in camera
Around the world, restrictions are being imposed for fear of a resurgence of cases.
The Spanish government closed nightclubs and bars, but also limited visits to retirement homes, banned smoking in the street and reinforced police checks. The country, very affected in the spring, registered 3,000 new cases two days in a row and hundreds of homes.
Even in some countries whose management of the first epidemic wave had been welcomed are concerned. After New Zealand, which extended Auckland’s confinement on Friday, South Korea on Saturday toughened social restrictions in Seoul and its surroundings while the number of contaminations is at its highest for five months. Professional sports matches will again have to be played behind closed doors.
To the United States however, the governor of New York announced the reopening on August 24 of museums and other cultural institutions, after five months of closure.
The United States remains the most bereaved country (168,318 dead), ahead of Brazil (106,523), Mexico (55,908) and India (49,036).
The country, faced with a resurgence of the epidemic since the end of June, still recorded Friday more than 60,000 cases and 1,280 deaths in one day, according to the count of Johns Hopkins University.
The borders of the United States with Mexico and Canada, their two neighbors, will remain closed to non-essential travel at least until Sept. 21, US Homeland Security said.
The return of restrictions in many countries around the world is clouding hopes of a recovery in the global economy from the crisis caused by the lockdowns.
The Poland has now entered a recession, for the first time since the communist period.
In Inde, the population is turning away from gold which it is usually very fond of. Two and a half months after the lifting of national confinement in India, the Zaveri Bazaar in Bombay, the country’s largest gold market of 1.3 billion inhabitants, remains deserted.
“We’ve been running this store for 40 years and I’ve never seen business go so badly”, laments Madhubhai Shah, a 75-year-old jeweler who is among the few to have reopened his business.
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