Coronavirus cases have been reported by at least 41 schools in Berlin, barely two weeks after the German capital’s 825 schools reopened.
Falls are spreading across Europe, including Spain, which has registered 66,905 in the past two weeks, resulting in the continent’s worst infection period and warnings about the risk of a new wave of deaths.
The revelation by Berlin’s city education authorities that hundreds of students and teachers had to be quarantined has once again underlined how little is known about the risk of infection in school institutions, despite the urging of governments and experts, including in the UK, to reopen schools safely saw the proper precautionary measures.
The Berlin experience reflects that in some states in the US, including Georgia, and in Israel, which have included clusters attached to schools. According to reports in Berlin, all age groups are affected, including in primary schools, secondary schools and trade schools.
Berlin was one of the first places in Germany to reopen its schools after the summer holidays. Children are required to wear face masks in the hallways, during breaks and when entering the classroom, but they can take them off once they are seated and starting classes. Some critics say that the measures in Berlin are relaxing and that both students and teachers should wear facial clothing during lessons.
The situation in Spain has drawn a furious warning from Health Commissioner Fernando Simón, who told reporters: “There should be no confusion: things are not going well. If we continue to allow transmission, even if most cases are mild, we will end up with many in the hospital, many in intensive care and many dead. ”
More than a quarter of these new infections have been in Madrid, which was at the center of the country’s crisis in March and April. “We can not say that the epidemic is out of control at a national level, but there are some specific places where it is,” Simón added, without giving further details.
Deaths have also increased across Spain, with 131 deaths in the last seven days compared to 12 one month ago. About 1,400 Covid-19 patients were admitted to the hospital last week, nearly doubling the figure a week earlier.
The rise in cases has prompted officials in Spain to roll out a series of measures, including asking regions to order the closure of brothels, a week after the government closed most nightlife establishments and imposed several other restrictions.
The ministry has sent a letter asking for “regions to act specifically in places where prostitution is practiced, such as brothels”, she told RNE radio station on Friday. Brothels operate in a legal gray area in Spain, which has hampered the regulation of their activities, a ministry spokesman said.
France has meanwhile taken another big leap in new cases of coronavirus, by far the highest increase since the end of the lockdown in May, leading authorities to order schoolchildren over the age of 11 to wear face masks when they are just back from school a week in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus.
The new policy marks an increase in measures as coronavirus infections record in France, with 4,700 new cases reported on Thursday, a post-lockdown record.
‘Use of masks will be systematic from high school and not only if there is no social distance. But outside, it is a local decision, “Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer said in a television interview late Thursday.
The French Ministry of Health on Friday reported 23 extra deaths and 4,586 new infections over the past 24 hours. There are currently 266 clusters under investigation, and 31 French branches are considered in a situation of “moderate to significant risk”.
Health experts say that the increase in the number of new cases can not be explained by the widespread tests that are performed, because the incidence in new cases is significantly higher than the incidence in the number of tests. Hospital and intensive care admissions remain stable, authorities say.
In its weekly summary for August 10-16, also published on Thursday, Santé Publique France noted that the number of new cases increased by 42% in the previous week and there was a “strong progression in the circulation of the virus, especially among young adults “.
The Austrian ski resort of Ischgl, which became one of Europe’s coronavirus hotspots at the start of the pandemic, has announced that it will ban après-ski next season party.
Thousands of international holidaymakers were infected in Ischgl, in the western alpine state of Tyrol, around early March, and then brought the virus back home. Many of those have filed legal complaints, with local authorities accusing them of not acting quickly enough – a charge they refuse – to close bars where the virus spread while drinking after drinking after drinking.
“There will be no après-ski festival, as we know it will be next season,” said the Paznaun-Ischgl region tourist association.
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