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ROME (AP) -- Tighter restrictions aimed at reining in surging coronavirus infections took hold in much of Italy and parts of Poland on Monday, while in France, Paris risks being slapped with a weekend lockdown as ICUs near saturation with COVID-19 patients.
In line with an Italian government decision late last week, 80% of schoolchildren, from nursery through high schools, were locked out of classroom starting on Monday. Ever-mounting numbers of ICU beds occupied by COVID-19 patients, steadily rising daily caseloads and infection transmission predominantly driven by a virus variant first discovered in Britain have combined to make Italian Premier Mario Draghi's new government apply "red zone" designation on more regions, including, for the first time since the color-tiered system was created last fall, on Lazio, the region including Rome.
In red-zone regions, restaurants and cafes can do only takeout or delivery, nonessential shops are shuttered and residents must stick close to home, except for work, health or shopping for necessities. Over the weekend, many hair salons extended hours to handle last-minute customers, and crowds thronged shopping streets, parks and seaside promenades before the crackdown took effect.
On Monday, reality sunk in.
In a country, where coffee is taken, properly, at a cafe counter or table, and not in some take-out paper cup, Alessandra Lorisa took off her mask and sipped hers in a Rome piazza. "By now, it's become part of our routine,'' she said. "It's a lot more American, if we can say so,'' she added, expressing hope that after Easter "we can see some improvements, to get back to the routines that we were used to."
Draghi on Friday promised an quick infusion of pandemic aid to shuttered businesses.
Beyond the commercial aspects, parents voiced concern for children shut out of classrooms. "They have little interaction now with their friends, they have to celebrate their birthdays alone,'' said Marco Pacciani as he strolled through a Rome park with his young son.
In Poland, amid a sharp spike in the number of new infections and of hospitalized COVID-19 patients, restrictions were tightened in two more regions, including the capital, Warsaw, and a western province that borders Germany.