Coronavirus: As EU borders are shut, cross-border workers feel the pain

Austria, Switzerland and Slovenia have closed some of their borders with Italy as their southern neighbor struggles to control the worst outbreak of coronavirus outside of Asia. The Italian government has placed the entire country on lockdown amid a rising death toll — now 827 people — and more than 12,000 infections of COVID-19.

The effects of Italy’s draconian measures are naturally being felt nationwide. But concern is growing for tens of thousands of cross-border workers, who travel between European Union states and are facing entry and exit restrictions that could see them unable to work or return home to their families.

“There are many people who work in one place but are really worried to return there because they may get stuck for several weeks or months,” Guntram Wolff, director of the Brussels-based economic think tank Bruegel told DW. 

Read more: Coronavirus latest: Germany reports fifth death from COVID-19

• Coronavirus: Timeline of the global spread of COVID-19

  Pneumonia-like virus hits Wuhan

  On December 31, 2019, China notifies the World Health Organization of a string of respiratory infections in the city of Wuhan, home to some 11 million people. The root virus is unknown and disease experts around the world begin working to identify it. The strain is traced to a seafood market in the city, which is quickly shut down. Some 40 people are initially reported to be infected.

• Coronavirus: Timeline of the global spread of COVID-19

  First death in China

  On January 11, China announces the first death from the coronavirus — a 61-year-old man, who had shopped at the Wuhan market, dies from complications with pneumonia. Like SARS and the common cold, scientists identified that the new virus is in the coronavirus family. It is temporarily named 2019-nCoV. Symptoms include fever, coughing, difficulty breathing, and pneumonia.

• Coronavirus: Timeline of the global spread of COVID-19

  Virus reaches neighboring countries

  In the following days, countries such as Thailand and Japan begin to report cases of infections in people who had visited the same Wuhan market. In China, a second fatality is confirmed in the city. By January 20, three people have died in China and more than 200 are infected.

• Coronavirus: Timeline of the global spread of COVID-19

  Millions under lockdown

  China places Wuhan on quarantine on January 23 in an attempt to limit the spread of the virus. Transportation is suspended and workers attempt to quickly build a new hospital to treat infected patients, which total over 830 by January 24, as the death toll climbs to 26. Officials eventually extend the lockdown to 13 other cities, affecting at least 36 million people.

• Coronavirus: Timeline of the global spread of COVID-19

  A global health emergency?

  More and more cases are confirmed outside of China, including in South Korea, the US, Nepal, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan. As the number of infections rises, the World Health Organization on January 23 determines that it’s “too early” to declare a global public health emergency.

• Coronavirus: Timeline of the global spread of COVID-19

  Coronavirus reaches Europe

  On January 24, French authorities confirm three cases of the new coronavirus within its borders, marking the disease’s first appearance in Europe. Hours later, Australia confirms four people have been infected with the respiratory virus.

• Coronavirus: Timeline of the global spread of COVID-19

  Lunar New Year holiday extended

  The Chinese Lunar New Year begins with subdued festivities on January 25. Officials cancel many major events in a bid to contain the outbreak, as millions of Chinese travel and take part in public celebrations. By late January, 17 Chinese cities, home to more than 50 million people, are in lockdown. Lunar New Year holidays are extended by three days to limit population flows.

• Coronavirus: Timeline of the global spread of COVID-19

  Borders with Mongolia, Hong Kong, eastern Russia close

  Cambodia confirms its first case, while Mongolia shuts its border with China for cars and Russia closes its borders in three regions in the Far East. The cost to global tourism is put in the billions and oil prices also plummet. The death toll rises to 41, with over 1,300 infected worldwide — mostly in China. Scientists hope to have the first coronavirus vaccines ready within three months.

• Coronavirus: Timeline of the global spread of COVID-19

  Germany braces for virus

  On January 27, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas says Germany is considering evacuating German nationals from Wuhan. There are no reported cases in Germany yet but officials are preparing to fight the virus. German researchers in Marburg are part of international efforts to work on a possible vaccine for the coronavirus. The death toll in China reaches 81, with 2,700 affected worldwide.

• Coronavirus: Timeline of the global spread of COVID-19

  First cases confirmed in Germany

  On January 27, Germany announces its first known case of the virus — a 33-year-old in Bavaria who contracted it during a workplace training with a visiting Chinese colleague. He is put under quarantine and observation at a Munich hospital. The following day, three of his colleagues are confirmed infected. The death toll in China reaches 132, with around 6,000 infected worldwide.

• Coronavirus: Timeline of the global spread of COVID-19

  International evacuations begin

  On January 28, Japan and the US are the first countries to evacuate some of their citizens from Wuhan. Four of the Japanese passengers are taken to the hospital with fevers on arrival. Australia and New Zealand say they will also send planes to bring their citizens home. Global cases mount to nearly 6,000 infections, more than the 2002-03 SARS outbreak that killed roughly 800 people.

• Coronavirus: Timeline of the global spread of COVID-19

  WHO declares global health emergency

  On January 30, the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO) declares coronavirus a public health emergency of international concern in a bid to protect countries with “weaker health systems.” However, WHO Secretary-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus does not recommend trade and travel restrictions, saying these would be “an unnecessary disruption.”

• Coronavirus: Timeline of the global spread of COVID-19

  First death outside China

  The first death linked to the novel coronavirus outside of China is reported in the Philippines on February 2. A 44-year-old Chinese man had traveled from Wuhan to Manila before falling ill and being taken to hospital, where he later died of pneumonia.

• Coronavirus: Timeline of the global spread of COVID-19

  Bad ending to a cruise

  Also on February 3, the cruise ship Diamond Princess is quarantined off Yokohama in Japan after cases of the new coronavirus were found on board. As of February 17, the number of people infected has grown to more than 450, the largest cluster of cases outside of China. Several of the 3,700 passengers and crew onboard the ship are being or have been flown back to their home countries.

• Coronavirus: Timeline of the global spread of COVID-19

  New methodology, new statistic

  On February 13, China’s Hubei province registers the highest-ever one-day total of infections. This comes, however, after authorities announced that they had begun including people diagnosed using new clinical methods — CT scans for lung infections instead of the previous nucleic acid tests — in official statistics.

• Coronavirus: Timeline of the global spread of COVID-19

  ‘Cult-like’ South Korean church linked to outbreak

  South Korea experiences a surge in coronavirus cases, now designated COVID-19 by the WHO, with their first death on February 21. Fingers are pointed at the “cult-like” Shincheonji Church. Half of the cases in South Korea are linked to the group. Thousands of worshipers spread the virus during services. On March 2, authorities announce they would investigate the church’s leader.

• Coronavirus: Timeline of the global spread of COVID-19

  Italy under quarantine

  Cases in Italy rise dramatically, with 77 deaths and thousands of confirmed cases by March 3. Many countries instigate travel restrictions to northern Italy and tourist numbers plummet. On March 8, the Italian government put the entire Lombardy region into quarantine, affecting 16 million people. March 10 sees 168 fatalities in Italy, the highest in a single day.

• Coronavirus: Timeline of the global spread of COVID-19

  Economic woes

  European and US stock markets slump on March 6, leading to the worst week since the 2008 financial crisis. The effect on global business has been significant, with many companies reporting losses and the tourism industry and airlines badly hit. The EU pledge €7.5 billion ($8.4 billion) on March 10 in an investment fund to try to stop the Eurozone falling into a recession.

• Coronavirus: Timeline of the global spread of COVID-19

  Pandemic: Merkel warns 70% of Germans could be infected

  As worldwide cases top 127,000 and deaths pass 4,700, the World Health Organization designated the global outbreak as a “pandemic” on March 11. US President Donald Trump announces a travel restriction on people coming from the Schengen Zone in Europe, annoying the EU. German Chancellor Angela Merkel announces that Germany 70% of the population could get the virus. Four Germans are now dead.

  Author: Cristina Burack, Elliot Douglas, Dave Raish, Kate Martyr, Timothy Jones

While Italy has exempted cross-border workers from the lockdown, Austria and Slovenia have introduced an entry ban on arrivals from the south without a medical certificate. For now, Switzerland has stepped up temperature screenings which threaten lengthy delays at road and rail frontiers. Several secondary border crossings have been shut. Some politicians in Switzerland’s canton of Ticino, which lies directly on the border with Italy, have called for a total ban on people arriving from the south.

Not all have proof of employment

The new measures are expected to impact some 60-70,000 commuters who cross between Italy and Austria, and a similar number who travel between Switzerland and Italy each day. Many have high-paying jobs in private banks, hospitals, construction sites and factories. But others are freelance or work illegally and don’t have work permits or written proof of their job. Switzerland also sees huge numbers cross into the country from France and Germany, two other European countries with high numbers of infections.

Italy, meanwhile, relies on a multitude of workers from eastern Europe to help staff hospitals, care homes and supermarkets. As frontline staff go sick or are placed in quarantine, the country faces a potential shortage of critical workers if borders are shut for any length of time.

“A shortage of health professionals and for old-age carers is not a new phenomenon. Given that close to 24% of Italy’s population is over 65, the demand for these types of workers is already high,” said Isilda Mara, an economist at the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies.

Read more: ECB shifts into crisis mode as coronavirus bites eurozone economy

And as coronavirus spreads throughout Europe, an even larger group of frontier workers — such as the 200,000 people living in Belgium, Germany and France who commute to Luxembourg daily — could also be impacted. According to EU estimates, some 1.47 million people reside in one EU member state but work in another. While many office positions offer the chance to work from home, as the coronavirus outbreak worsens, many roles will always require the employee to be present.

Missing legal protection

Cross-border workers also fear a lack of legal protection from the travel restrictions put in place due to the outbreak. “Unlike absence due to sickness, absence due to a border closure is not covered by any insurance and would give firms the right to stop paying salaries,” Hilmar Schneider, chief executive of the Institute from Labor Economics, based in Bonn, Germany, told DW.

Despite Italian Prime Minister Guiseppe Conte insisting that no one will lose their job due to coronavirus, discrimination is also a growing fear among many cross-border workers, who believe that locals will be prioritized to retain their jobs if a firm needs to introduce temporary or permanent layoffs. Several economists have predicted large-scale job cuts across Europe as firms’ profits nosedive.

“Close to two-thirds of cross-border workers have jobs which require a low or secondary level of education, so this group is more vulnerable [to layoffs],” Mara told DW.

Those that do return home risk carrying the virus with them and the self-isolation demands that could delay their return to the country where they work.

The restrictions are not limited to Italy’s neighbors. Germany has stepped up border checks at its border with France due to a cluster of coronavirus cases in the Grand Est region. 

Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, concerned that Germany has the fourth-largest number of infections in Europe, have renewed border checks. Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said on Thursday that restrictions would be imposed on 13 risk countries, including several EU states. Cross-border workers are exempt from that ban for now, if they can prove their employment in another country.

Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-as-eu-borders-are-shut-cross-border-workers-feel-the-pain/a-52737342?maca=en-rss-en-bus-2091-xml-atom