Second virus wave threatens Europe
Published: 12:08 PM,Aug 15,2020 | EDITED : 10:04 PM,Apr 27,2024
Thousands of UK holidaymakers scrambled to get home to beat new restrictions on arrivals from European countries as a second wave of virus infections threatened more disruption and economic chaos on the continent.
France and the Netherlands were removed from a list of quarantine-exempt countries Friday, sparking a rush for plane, train and ferry ticket by Britons hoping get home before 4am (0300 GMT) Saturday, after which arrivals will have to self-isolate for 14 days.
France is facing a resurgent wave of the disease that emerged in China late last year and has so far infected over 21 million people and killed more than 750,000 around the world.
Authorities in France have reported more than 2,500 new cases for the past three days -- levels not seen since May.
'I went to bed last night thinking it was all OK, woke up at 7am to find we had to get back here pretty sharpish,' Stuart Buntine told the PA news agency.
Neighbouring Spain said it would close all nightclubs and ban smoking in the street where people are unable to stay at a safe distance, after the country reported almost 3,000 cases in 24 hours on Thursday.
Germany added all of Spain except the Canary Islands to its list of regions where incoming travellers must show a negative test for COVID-19 or quarantine for 14 days.
Austria urged its citizens to return from popular Mediterranean destination Croatia before similar rules come into effect on Monday, while Serbia introduced mandatory testing for travellers from four neighbouring countries.
And thousands of Albanians queued in their cars at the Greek border, hoping to squeeze across and return to work before tougher entry requirements designed to brake mounting infections come into effect.
Some people had been waiting for three days in the 20-kilometre (12-mile), 4,000-car jam, an Albanian police source said.
The US Department of Homeland Security also said it was extending a ban on non-essential travel through border crossings with Canada and Mexico throughout most of September 'to slow the spread' of the disease.
French student Antoine, 23, had to rush back to Bristol, in southwestern England where he is at university, cutting short his summer holidays.
'I'm a waiter in a small cafe near college, I can't afford to spend 14 days in the house,' he said at London's St Pancras railway station after getting off a Eurostar train.
French holidaymakers in the UK will be faced with tough choices of their own, as Paris swiftly announced a 'reciprocal measure', although it was unclear when that might be imposed.
The Netherlands said it would advise against all but essential travel to Britain, but will not impose a quarantine of its own for incoming travellers.
A slew of data Friday revealed the scale of the economic impact of the virus and punishing lockdowns, with Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, the Netherlands, Finland and Denmark all booking hefty hits to GDP in April-June.
Denmark and Hungary both reported their worst slumps since the early 1990s and Poland entered its first recession since the end of the communist era.
One British couple said they had spent nearly 1,000 pounds (1,105 euros) to make it home via Eurostar from central France.
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