Saturday 30th of March 2024

the "epicentre" of the pandemic...

paris

Two of the EU's biggest states, France and Spain, have followed Italy in announcing emergency restrictions to combat the spread of coronavirus. 

France, a country of 63.5 million, ordered the closure of all non-essential places used by the public from midnight (23:00 GMT). 

Sweeping curbs on citizens' movements will take effect overnight in Spain, which has a population of 46.7 million.

Spain is the worst-hit country in Europe after Italy.

There are 191 deaths and 6,046 infections in Spain. Italy, which has recorded more than 1,440 deaths, began a nationwide lockdown on Monday.

The US is to extend its European coronavirus travel ban to include the UK and Republic of Ireland. The ban will begin at midnight EST on Monday (04:00 GMT Tuesday), Vice-President Mike Pence announced.

On Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Europe was now the "epicentre" of the pandemic. Its head, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, urged countries to use aggressive measures, community mobilisation and social distancing to save lives.

 

Read more:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-51892477

 

 

Picture at top by Gus Leonisky.

sick vivid...

The Vivid Sydney light festival has been cancelled due to measures put in place to limit public gatherings to slow the spread of coronavirus, as the number of diagnosis in Australia continues to rise.

However the NRL announced on Sunday it planned to continue the competition – without crowds – into round two despite the coronavirus pandemic. 

The number of new confirmed cases of Covid-19 in New South Wales rose by 20 in 24 hours to 112, with around 250 cases nationally.

In Tasmania, passengers and crew were barred from disembarking from a cruise ship that docked in Hobart.

The NSW tourism minister, Stuart Ayres, said the decision to cancel Vivid was made after recommendations from the federal government to limit non-essential gatherings of more than 500 people.

 

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/15/coronavirus-australian-inf...

 

 

Question: why 500? why not 453 or 679? Does this mean when there are less than 500 you're safe or "safer"?

the revolution continues...

Yellow Vest demonstrators aren’t letting a ban on mass gatherings or fears of coronavirus stop them from expressing their opposition to the French government, and are staging their weekly protests in Paris.

France’s Interior Minister Christophe Castaner on Friday banned all gatherings of more than 100 people but hundreds of demonstrators are continuing the weekly Yellow Vest vigil and are protesting at Paris landmarks.

Thousands of French security forces personnel hit the streets of the capital in a bid to clamp down on the movement, which has now been running for 70 consecutive weeks.

Eyewitness footage shows riot police firing tear gas in a bid to subdue the activists as the protests spiralled towards violence.

In a televised address to the nation on Thursday, President Emmanuel Macron announced school closures and urged people to avoid close contact for fear of spreading the virus, which has killed 79 people in France and infected more than 3,600.

 

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/483129-yellow-vest-protest-coronavirus-video/

 

Read from top.

 

I have been told that casual school teachers have been left in the lurch with no pay for three weeks in France. Insurance companies are deserted and not even a robot answers the phones... Bars and nightclubs have been shut down and of all blessed ironies, all the MacDonald's have had to shut down as well... The yoof are lost about what to do: no school, no amusements and no fast food... At least the yoof have iPhones that cannot be fixed by Apple should these develop "technical problems"... What is the world coming to?

this REALLY is the end of the world...!


Residents of the French department of Aisne are heading for a truly harsh coronavirus lockdown, as local authorities have imposed a blanket ban on alcohol sales. The move is for their own good, officials argue.

Announcing the decision on Tuesday,  Prefect of the department Ziad Khoury pointed out that alcohol abuse often goes hand in hand with domestic violence - which, many fear, is bound to surge under the lockdown.

“Excessive consumption of alcohol is likely to create increased disturbances and violence, especially within the family"

Khoury also banned shops from working past 8pm – indeed, if you cannot fetch a cold one, why bother going for groceries at night? While the decision affects only take-out sales of the booze, all the bars and restaurants have been already shut down which effectively makes Aisne a dry department.

Despite the prefect’s efforts to portray the ban as beneficial for the residents, some have made it clear they were not looking forward to the weeks of abstinence. Netizens flocked to the official's Twitter en mass, arguing that the ban will cause more harm, than good - all while giving rise to black markets.

 

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/483997-france-alcohol-coronavirus-ban/

 

 

Read from top.

 

Lucky here. In the Gus household, over the years, we managed to stock up several hundred litres of classic red ned and a few Granges(?) (I wish...) — and some lovely Italian and Austrian whites... Ordinary red ned and chardonnays come in casks.