Parisians fleeing for the countryside jammed the roads ahead of France's lockdown to slow the spread of resurgent coronavirus infections, and there was only a sprinkling of people hurrying along city sidewalks Friday as the nationwide restrictions went into effect.

Dystopian images of logjams that stretched for 435 miles (700 kilometers) at one point Thursday evening — exacerbated by the upcoming long holiday weekend — were a grim sign of a return to the dark days of the spring, when virus cases first swelled in Europe and many countries kept their citizens inside for weeks on end. With infections hitting record levels in some countries, many are now resorting to severe restrictions again.

In France, concerns were growing that rising infections would swamp the country's health system, so authorities ordered another four-week lockdown beginning Friday. Many areas of the French capital resembled a regular lazy weekend morning — on what would normally have been a bustling weekday. Those who were out frequently clutched permission forms proving they had an exemption that allowed them to to be on streets.

The only places that were busy were grocery stores and markets as people stockpiled food and other necessities.

All of France's 67 million people have been ordered to stay at home at all times with no visitors, or risk steep fines or prosecution. There are a handful of exceptions, such as being allowed out for one hour of exercise a day within a half-mile (1 kilometer) of home, to go to medical appointments, to a place of work, or to shop for essential goods. Restaurants and cafés are shuttered, apart from those that offer takeout.

“Going to friends’ houses, having friends over and moving around for anything other than the reasons set out” will be impossible, Prime Minister Jean Castex explained firmly on Thursday.

That will hit hard for many.

“It’s not nice because I left my country to enjoy the experience of living in another country," said Laura Beimberg, 28, an intern at cosmetics giant L’Oreal who is from Mexico. "And this experience of being between four walls, far away from family and friends is so hard.”

French President Emmanuel Macron implemented the lockdown as a last resort to curb the steep spike in infections across the country, where new daily cases are currently averaging around 50,000. That means that, on a per capita basis, France is seeing about two and a half times the number of new cases each day that the United States is.

But France is not alone. Many of its European neighbors are experiencing rising infections, some even beyond what they saw in the spring. 

Belgium has imposed a partial lockdown in a new bid to gain control of the pandemic that has hit the country worse than any other in the European Union.

As COVID-19 infections continued their record rise on Friday, the government moved to restrict travel and shopping. Family contact will also be reduced to an absolute minimum of one outside the closest cluster for the next 6 weeks. Remote work will be mandatory.

Hospitals and experts have long complained that Belgium's measures were too lax over the summer, when the pandemic eased, and warned recently that unless there was a drastic lockdown the nation's once-vaunted health system would soon face breaking point.

“We are going towards a reinforced confinement with only one goal: avoiding that health care services collapse," said Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, as he announced the measures. “It is now in our hands, it is in your hands. These really are the last-chance measures and it is up to all of us to make sure that these measures produce a result.”

The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control on Friday ranked Belgium as the worst affected nation in the 27-nation bloc, with 1,600 cases per 100,000 people. Hotspots like Spain and Italy have less than a third of that total, highlighting how acute the crisis is.

After surpassing the spring record on Thursday, the number of hospital patients in Belgium, a nation of 11.5 million, broke the 6,000-mark and stood at 6,187, a rise of 263 in a day.

“Unfortunately, we cannot yet see the long-expected turnaround in figures,” said virologist Steven Van Gucht. He said that the true total of infections is higher than reported because testing has been reduced for specific categories of people.

Patients in intensive care units reached 1,057 from 993 the day earlier, and virologists have warned that unless tougher measures have a quick impact the saturation point of 2,000 patients will be reached on Nov. 6.