Coronavirus worldwide: Germany and France are preparing for a new year close next month, as Covid-19 sweeps across Europe and a sharp drop in financial markets amid fears of possible economic costs

Germany and France prepared to announce on Wednesday, restrictions close to the level of the general isolation measures imposed last spring, at a time when deaths due to Covid-19 disease across Europe rose by nearly 40 percent in a week, which led to a sharp decline in the financial markets amid fears of potential economic costs.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet state ministers in a conference call to discuss closing restaurants and bars, keeping schools and nurseries open and allowing people to go out in public places only with family members.

In France, which is witnessing more than 50 thousand new cases daily, President Emmanuel Macron will deliver a televised speech this evening, during which he is expected to announce further restrictions on the movement of people in the wake of the curfews imposed in most parts of the country last week.

The BFM television channel reported that the government was considering a one-month closure starting at midnight on Thursday, but there was no confirmation from Macron’s office.

It is expected that the measures, which will come after similar steps in Italy and Spain, will not include the closure of schools and most companies, and will be less severe than the almost complete general closure imposed at the start of the crisis in March and April.

But the economic cost is likely to be high, eliminating the fragile signs of recovery spotted over the summer and increasing the possibility of a double-dip recession. European stock markets fell on Wednesday, hitting their lowest levels since June, while the euro fell against the dollar.

While European leaders have tried desperately to avoid the exorbitant cost of lockdowns, the new measures reflect growing concern about the accelerating pace of the epidemic 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 received patients from its neighbor, the Netherlands, as hospitals have reached their maximum capacity.

French Prime Minister Jean Castex has warned MPs that intensive care units in France will reach their maximum capacity by 11 November if no action is taken to curb the spread of the epidemic that has infected more than 42 million and killed more than 1.1 million worldwide. 

Swiss officials have warned that Swiss hospitals could reach breaking point within days.

The latest figures released by the World Health Organization on Tuesday, showed that Europe recorded 1.3 million new cases in the past seven days, nearly half the number of cases recorded around the world and the number was 2.9 million, in addition to more than 11,700 deaths, an increase of 37 Percent from the previous week.

The United States, which monitored more than 500,000 cases last week, witnessed record daily infections, and while many countries in Asia succeeded in controlling the disease to a large extent, China recorded 42 new cases on Tuesday, which is the highest daily toll in more than two months.

The virus was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of last year.

Hopes that new treatments might limit the spread were dealt a blow when the head of Britain’s vaccine-buying task force warned that an effective vaccine might never be developed and that early versions were likely to be defective.

While surveys in many countries show that a number of countries want strict controls to stop the spread of the disease, the atmosphere of public support for governments witnessed in the first wave of the epidemic is no longer largely present.

Across Europe, governments have come under fire for lack of coordination and their failure to take advantage of the fall in cases over the summer to bolster defenses, leaving hospitals unprepared and forcing people to use crowded public transport to get to work.

Italy, which has pledged more than 5 billion euros ($ 5.9 billion) in new support measures for companies affected by the recent restrictions, has seen frequent clashes between police and protesters in cities from Naples to Turin as well as bitter criticism from restaurant owners and business groups.

And with similar measures imposed elsewhere, business groups have raised the alarm.

German BGA Group, a service sector lobbyist, said the restaurant closures would inflict a “knockout” on many businesses, and instead called for more stringent measures to curb infections in people’s homes.