Coronavirus: Spain raises fears of the European ‘second wave’

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An increase in coronavirus cases in Spain has prompted new measures amid fears of a more widespread “second wave”.

Catalonia has shut down its nightlife for two weeks, but cities outside the northeast region are also on the rise.

France, which has also seen an increase, has issued a travel warning and Norway is quarantining arrivals from Spain.

Germany has also hit a two-month high in new infections, as nations struggle to prevent further outbreaks and reopen economies.

European increases are echoed by much larger increases in the rest of the world, with daily new infection record numbers of around 280,000 in the past two days.

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“While no country is not affected, this increase is due to high transmission in large and populated countries in America and South Asia,” the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement on Saturday.

There have been more than 15.7 million cases worldwide and more than 640,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

What is happening in Spain?

Just a month after Spain ended its state of emergency, cities like Barcelona, ​​Zaragoza and the capital Madrid have seen an increase in new infections, prompting the government to warn that a second wave may be imminent.

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The Catalan government now says that all the region’s nightclubs and nightclubs will close for the next two weeks.

The Spanish health ministry reported more than 900 new cases of the virus on Friday. A soccer team in the second division, Fuenlabrada, now has 28 confirmed cases.

Guy Hedgecoe of the BBC in Madrid says contagion among young people is a particular concern, as they have been gathering in large numbers in cities at night.

Epidemiologist Dr. Daniel López-Acuña told the BBC that the average age of cases could increase “because transmission goes from the young to the rest of the home, and certainly to the elderly.”

France has warned its citizens not to travel to Catalonia, while Norway has said it will begin to quarantine people arriving from Spain.

Belgium has banned traveling to Huesca and Lleida, with recommendations against traveling to other areas of Spain.

Are other European nations concerned about the spikes?

Most are experiencing increases and outbreaks, but want to keep economies running and expect any second wave to be regionally limited.

Belgium has delayed its reopening amid a sharp increase in cases.

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Italy is isolating arrivals from Romania and Bulgaria for two weeks after several imported cases.

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French Prime Minister Jean Castex says people arriving from 16 countries where the virus is widely circulating will be subject to on-site coronavirus testing.

France’s health ministry said there were now more than 1,000 new cases every day in hospitals.

Germany has said it can introduce mandatory testing for tourists returning from high-risk destinations after infections peaked for two months.

What are the global increases?

The trajectory remains worryingly upward, says the WHO: more than a quarter of a million new cases over three days in a row through Friday.

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One of the top concerns is India, where there are now 1.3 million confirmed cases, 100,000 of them in the past two days, and experts fear the worst is yet to come.

One of those who tested positive was Madhya Pradesh state prime minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who urged people not to be careless.

The United States, Brazil and South Africa also continue to show strong increases.

In other developments:

• Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro announced Saturday that he was now negative for Covid-19, more than two weeks after testing positive. He attributed his recovery to hydroxychloroquine, a drug not yet proven effective against coronavirus.
• Vietnam He is on high alert again after detecting his first locally transmitted case in about three months, a 57-year-old grandfather in the central city of Danang.
• More than 10,000 health workers have contracted coronavirus in Africa Since the start of the pandemic, the WHO says
• Hong Kong reported on Saturday the highest daily total of new infections today, more than 130, with extended social distancing measures
• Imported cases have entered the number South Korea at levels not seen since March
• The virus has also been emerging in Japan, which recorded its highest number of new cases this week