(Bloomberg) — Londoners will be banned from mixing with other households indoors and Paris is set for a curfew, as European leaders struggle to cope with record new coronavirus cases around the region.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government mandated tighter restrictions in the U.K. capital starting this weekend, while French President Emmanuel Macronwill confine residents of nine of the country’s biggest cities to their homes between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. for four weeks from Saturday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel implored citizens to abide by distancing rules and avoid groups.
The varied approaches around Europe to deal with the disease have caused confusion and stoked unrest amid the pandemic-weary public, especially amid low hospitalization and death rates — which keep rising steadily.
Leaders have little recourse but to tell people to knuckle down. Johnson was adamant he did not want a second lockdown but now the prospect of a so-called “circuit-breaker” with schools closed for two weeks is in the air.
And like that, Euro stocks fell. Euro Stoxx had only one advances versus 49 declines.
The face of a sick America.