Looks like now all of EU's borders will be, finally, closed down. In France, Macron has ordered citizens to stay home, but given the rampant insecurity and likelihood of unrest, Army trucks were seen being deployed in some cities, including Paris, (see picture). Other countries such as Spain have recently deployed their military.

Meanwhile, for us in the UK.... Well apart from us being 'warned' to avoid non-essential contact (what sensible people do ANYWAY!), nothing, nada, ziltch.

One of the (many) problems here in Italy is that there is a severe shortage of protective masks. The problem is critical because if healthcare professionals don't wear a protective mask could get infected and spread the disease further, in addition to become unable to work.
According to our Government, lots (millions) of masks bought in foreign markets (mainly from chinese producers) get lost during the travel to Italy: they are currently being held in other countries because they have blocked every export and because they basically want to keep the masks for themselves.
Moreover, the problem is not only related to protective masks but it's more general in terms of medical supplies.

Here you can read an interesting article on the subject.

I'm not here to blame anyone, but this is a serious problem which leads to meditate about the existence of European Union itself.

Well, at least there are those plans to quarantine those over 70 for four months...so at least Johnson doesn't seem to want to let all the pensioners die. Will be interesting though how that will be implemented.
In Germany new restrictions have been announced today, most shops apart from supermarkets, pharmacies etc. will apparently be shut down. However no full lockdown like in Italy and France yet...but I expect that will come as well, maybe later this week.
Re shipments of masks blocked: I think Germany did that, and obviously it's wrong. As I understand it, the issue has been resolved (at least I hope so), but of course it shouldn't have happened in the first place.
I can understand to some extent that Italians feel let down, the response from Germany and France certainly hasn't been great so far, more help should have been offered. However I want to make two points: 1. imo much of this is motivated by fear, because Germany and France also aren't well-prepared, and both see numbers of Covid-19 infections steadily rising, 2. I have to say I find the "Only China is helping Italy" narrative that seems to be emerging a bit perverse tbh, because the disease probably originated due to Chinese negligence (unsanitary conditions on those food markets, or lax security at the Wuhan virology lab), and EU countries (including Germany) sent a lot of protective equipment to China in January, which must be a factor in the shortages with face masks, protective suits etc. which now are a problem in many European countries.
But I agree, the EU response to the crisis so far has been deficient and could have very negative consequences for the future of the EU (which imo would be quite sad, even though I disagree with much about the present state of the EU).

That has not yet be set in stone, there's supposed to be further announcements about this and 3 weeks were mentioned on that, so right now for sure is those over 70 must keep to a strict minimum outside contacts. As for implementation if any, unknown as yet.

Actually for now but who knows how long, France has for now allowed for people to go out for food/medicine, but these are to be controlled and penalties put in place.

Best wishes to you all over there in Germany (and elsewhere of course), hang in there.

Thanks, all the best to you in Britain as well!

There are huge such shortages right across Europe, and yes this is a serious problem and I for one have no problem blaming the institution named in that article.

Germany only blocked a shipment from china to austria, not that makes this d*ckmove any better but a blockaded to
italy....wait italy has ports of its own where are the ships also....

Equipment for free from china to italy
https://twitter.com/VKJudit/status/1237448125800988675

and

FFP3 masks from china to italy
https://www.newsweek.com/chinese-company-donates-tens-thousands-masks-coronavirus-striken-italy-says-we-are-waves-1491233

and witth a nice quote
"We are waves of the same sea, leaves of the same tree, flowers of the same garden,"
quote from the ancient Roman philosopher Seneca
Xiaomi wrote on crates containing the Italian-bound face masks.

But this crisis was poorly managed

There was a diplomatic row with Switzerland as well over blocked shipments of face masks.
Anyway, we'll have to see, but unfortunately it's true that so far Europan solidarity hasn't been much in evidence during this crisis.

Arg..yeah switzerland not autria my bad. And lets hope that solidarity will improve in the near future.

Important warning from the French government:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuWo5lmWuZI

It looks like certain common drugs (e.g. Aspirin, Ibuprofen) can make the infection a lot worse even in young and otherwise healthy people.

Speaking of shortages of FPP3 masks and pretty much the same for surgical ones, if really nothing else at hands which was the case for a while in Hong Kong, this video was put on the South China Morning Post and according to experts who devised it, it achieves a 90% filtering function of surgical masks.


https://www.scmp.com/video/lifestyle/3050732/experts-devise-do-it-yourself-face-masks-help-people-battle-coronavirus

While I do not particularly doubt this declaration, it is anecdotal ATM. More data is needed before it can be declared definitive. The French government is standing by their declaration but have only anecdotal evidence ATM.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/03/16/france-says-ibuprofen-may-aggravate-coronavirus-experts-say-more-evidence-is-needed/

Society is coming to a halt, everything seems to stop and people lose their jobs both left and right. How do you people plan to spend your time indoors while you ride out the storm?

Play guitar, watch some films and laugh at other people's hysteria.