France and Germany thrust into lockdown as second COVID-19 wave sweeps Europe

FILE PHOTO: People wearing protective masks as they walk through a pedestrian area as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in Frankfurt, Germany, October 27, 2020. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

BERLIN/PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel ordered their countries back into lockdown on Wednesday, as a massive second wave of coronavirus infections threatened to overwhelm Europe before the winter.

World stock markets went into a dive in response to the news that Europe's biggest economies were imposing nationwide restrictions almost as severe as the ones that drove the global economy this year into its deepest recession in generations.