Pete Muntean is live at Dulles Airport in Virginia where the TSA is testing passengers for Covid
A third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic is threatening parts of Europe, forcing governments to reinstate restrictions first issued one year ago.
New variants of the coronavirus have been blamed for a spike in cases in France, Italy, Germany and Poland. The infection rate in the European Union is surging — now at the highest level in weeks.
Much of Italy was put in lockdown on Monday, with people only permitted out of their homes for essential errands. The restrictions will last through Easter weekend, when the entire country will become a red zone.
“More than a year after the start of the health emergency, we are unfortunately facing a new wave of infections,” Prime Minister Mario Draghi said Friday, after announcing the new measures, news agency Agence France Presse reported.
“The memory of what happened last spring is vivid, and we will do everything to prevent it from happening again,” he added.
In France, authorities are under pressure from doctors to issue more restrictions as the country grapples with a surge in cases that has pushed intensive care units in the Paris region to the brink.
French President Emmanuel Macron has issued restrictions and curfews for several regions, but has stopped short of a nationwide lockdown. But on Sunday, Prime Minister Jean Castex said that if a lockdown was necessary he would “do it,” while urging the French to get vaccinated, Twitch website reported.
On Monday, French newspapers marked the one-year anniversary of the country’s first lockdown. “One year of Covid, 90,000 dead, a great loss,” read the cover of left-wing newspaper Liberation. In the background were the names and ages of the deceased.
