(Reuters) – Governments across Europe are trying to navigate between avoiding the spread of the coronavirus over the Christmas holiday season and allowing people to celebrate with family and friends.
Here are measures that will be adopted for year-end festivities by some European countries:
POLAND
Poland will extend the closing of schools, restaurants and sports centres to hotels, ski slopes and shopping malls form Dec. 28 to Jan. 17, and will also require a 10-day quarantine for those returning to the country by public transportation, Health Minister Adam Niedzielski said on Dec. 18. There will also be a curfew on New Year’s Eve from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. the day after.
SWITZERLAND
Restaurants, sports and recreation centres will be closed for a month from Dec. 22, with shops to stay open with a further limited capacity. The government has asked people to stay home and avoid non-essential movement.
CROATIA
Croats won’t be able to leave the county of their residence between Dec. 23 and Jan. 8, with no more than 10 people from maximum two households to be allowed at private gatherings during the holiday season.
PORTUGAL
The overnight curfew will be pushed back from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Dec. 24 and Dec. 25, with no limit on how many people can gather per household for Christmas, but it will be kept at 11 p.m on New Year’s Eve. People will also not be allowed to leave their homes between 1 p.m. and 5 a.m. from Jan. 1 to Jan. 3.
BRITAIN
On Dec. 16, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would not outlaw Christmas gatherings, allowing up to three households to meet at home between Dec. 23 and Dec. 27. People will be able to gather in places of worship and outdoors but not at indoor hospitality or entertainment venues. Shops will stay open for longer over Christmas and in January.
Two-thirds of England will have pubs and restaurants shut from the weekend of Dec. 19, following London’s path, to tackle a worsening outbreak, with Northern Ireland entering a six-week lockdown starting Dec. 26 adding also non-essential shops to the list of closed sites.
SPAIN
Curfews will be loosened and up to 10 people per household will be allowed to gather for Christmas and New Year as a general rule, but each region can implement stricter curbs.
Movement between regions will be restricted to visits of family and close friends between Dec. 23 and Jan. 6, unless the regions impose tougher rules.
DENMARK
Shopping malls will be closed from Dec. 17 and other stores, with the exception of supermarkets and food shops, from Dec. 25, as part of a hard lockdown over Christmas and the New Year.
BULGARIA
The country will keep secondary schools, shopping malls, cafes, gyms and restaurants closed and group tourist visits banned until Jan. 31. However, hotel restaurants will reopen on Dec. 22 at 50% of their capacity and only until 10 p.m.
ITALY
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Dec. 15 the government may have to tighten restrictions over Christmas, that currently include curbs on movement between regions starting on Dec. 20.
Pope Francis’s Christmas Eve Mass will start two hours earlier, allowing the limited number of people who can attend to be home by 10 p.m.
THE NETHERLANDS
The nation has gone into a hard five-week lockdown. Gatherings are limited to two people with a temporary relief raising the limit to three adult visitors over three days around Christmas.
CZECH REPUBLIC
Restaurants, hotels and indoor sports venues, which reopened only two weeks ago, will shut again from Dec. 18, and an 11 p.m. curfew will be in place.
GERMANY
Germany will only keep essential shops open, from Dec. 16 until at least Jan. 10. Private gatherings will remain limited to no more than five people from two households, with rules to be eased over the Christmas holidays when up to 10 people will be allowed to gather, not counting children.
GREECE
Hair salons and bookstores will reopen during Christmas, while other restrictions will remain in place until Jan. 7.
Churches will open for the Christmas and Epiphany masses on Dec. 25 and Jan. 6, with a limited number of worshippers.
FRANCE
France will lift its stay-at-home order on Dec. 15 and replace it with a nightly curfew, which will be waived for Christmas Eve.
HUNGARY
The country cancelled New Year’s Eve celebrations and restrictions, including a 7 p.m. curfew, will last until at least Jan. 11.
NORWAY
Norwegians will be able to invite up to 10 guests into their homes on two separate occasions between Christmas and New Year. Outside those days, the current limit of up to five guests will apply.
BELGIUM
Belgian households will only be able to be in close contact with one extra person over Christmas. People living on their own will be able to meet two others. Fireworks will be banned on New Year’s Eve and foreign travel is strongly discouraged.
IRELAND
Three households will be allowed to meet between Dec. 18 and Jan. 6, and the countrywide travel ban will be lifted for that period.
(Compiled by Elizaveta Gladun, Aida Pelaez-Fernandez and Veronica Snoj in Gdansk, Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Alistair Bell)
