After a summer of fear provoked by the coronavirus epidemic and the deaths it brought in its wake, and an autumn that offered hope of a revival in fortunes and control over the disease, Europe is bracing for a winter of discontent as countries around the continent, concerned by fresh spikes in cases, pull down the shutters on economic activity to varying degrees.

Germany became the latest country to announce shutdowns of bars, restaurants, cafes, cinemas and theatres. The measures will remain in force until the end of the month. This decision followed a far more severe lockdown announced in the United Kingdom over the weekend which put the brakes on non-essential economic activity while confining people to their homes.

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France is already under lockdown, having now clarified that even supermarkets can sell only essential goods, and not everything on their shelves. Spain is under nighttime curfew, while Belgium and Italy have already tightened controls on movement in a bid to control the spread of the virus. These measures may well be warranted by the public health situation, for every day there are reports of the disease striking where least expected.

The WHO chief is the latest to go into quarantine following contact with an infected person while authoritative reports from Britain said Prince William, second in line to the crowd, had contracted the disease last April, at about the same time his father Prince Charles was ill with Covid. But these reports have not emphasized to many Europeans the nature of the continuing threat, for many are now furious with their governments for the fresh restrictions.

Protestors clashed with police in Spain over the weekend, angry over the restraints placed on them. The biggest demonstrations were in Madrid where people torched garbage bins and set up makeshift barricades to shouts of “Freedom”. There has been violence in several Italian cities and in Prague in the Czech Republic, where too protestors have reacted with anger to restrictions.

While authorities may have few options open to them in view of the higher incidence of cases, it is clear that restraints on business and commercial activity will severely impact the lives of many who may already have stretched their resources and savings in coping with the first rounds of lockdown. To be asked to curtail activities once again is causing anger to bubble over.

Authorities must also be anxious to get a grip on the spread of the virus by December for Christmas is important both socially and commercially. Certainly, the holiday season will see greater movement of people and if the virus rages at the present rate, catastrophe is sure to follow.

Across the Atlantic, the costs of vigorous and not always cautious election campaigns will soon have to be paid by the United States, where already political meetings have been linked to large numbers of afflictions and significant numbers of deaths.