Germany starts 'wave-breaker' shutdown as Europe locks down

BERLIN (AP) — Several European countries are tightening restrictions this week, starting with a partial shutdown Monday in Germany, as authorities across the continent scramble to slow a rapid rise in coronavirus infections that threatens to overwhelm their health care systems.

Britain and Austria will follow suit later in the week, closing restaurants, bars and nonessential shops. Italy, Greece and Kosovo also announced new measures. In some places, the new rules — which vary in strictness — are prompting violent protests by people frustrated at once again having to forgo freedoms.

But in many, experts are saying they should have come weeks ago — a reflection of the increasingly difficult balance many countries are struggling to strike between controlling the virus and boosting already damaged economies. ...

Restrictions have been slowly ramping up for weeks in many European countries, but virus cases have continued to rise. There was a sign of hope from hard-hit Belgium, however, where a leading virologist said that “the high-speed train is somewhat easing up.”

Overall, Europe has seen more than 270,000 confirmed virus-related deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Experts say case and death figures understate the true toll of the pandemic due to missed cases, limited testing and other reasons. ...

Austria is also introducing new restrictions this week. Starting Tuesday and until the end of November, restaurants and bars are being closed — except for deliveries and takeout, as in Germany and England — and cultural, sports and leisure activities are canceled. Residents will be asked to stay home from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. They can go out to exercise or to work, among other things.

In Spain, lawmakers last week approved an extension until May 2021 of the country’s state of emergency. The measure puts into place a national nightly curfew and allows regions to impose more localized restrictions, such as limiting movement outside city limits on weekends. ...

Countries including hard-hit Belgium, France, Poland and the Czech Republic already have implemented shutdowns of varying strictness.

In Italy ... new restrictions including the closure of shopping malls at weekends and of museums. Movement between regions will be limited and a “late-evening” curfew introduced...

Greece announced a localized lockdown in its second-largest city, Thessaloniki, and the northern province of Serres.

While cases have been rising and are well beyond governments’ comfort zones across the continent, data from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control show wide variations in the average number of new cases per 100,000 residents reported over the past 14 days, with Germany’s figure of about 215 as of Monday less than half those of Austria and the U.K. The country currently worst hit, Belgium, has 1,735 new cases per 100,000. ...