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• Paris will go on high alert for two weeks starting Tuesdaythe French prime minister’s office said. Bars will close and restaurants will have to update new health protocols.
• Ireland’s health chiefs have recommended that the government impose a second nationwide lockdown for four weeks. – a jump to Level 5 restrictions from current Level 2 controls in 24 of Ireland’s 26 counties and more stringent Level 3 measures in Dublin and Donegal.
• UK authorities have admitted that nearly 16,000 positive test results have been “lost” in the track and trace system during the previous 10 days. The results had reached the analyzed but not the contact markers, and had not been included in the previous figures.
• Moscow authorities are reportedly considering a strict lockdown, including distance learning for school children. Russia reported 10,499 new cases on Sunday, its highest number since May 15, when lockdowns were implemented.
• The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, isolates herself until tomorrow after attending a meeting last Tuesday with someone who tested positive. “I tested negative on Thursday and they did it again today,” he tweeted.
• A new three-tier lockdown is being planned for England, The Guardian newspaper reports, citing government documents. Designed to improve compliance by simplifying existing restrictions, the new closure could shut down pubs and ban all social contact outside of domestic groups.
• German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier condemned “politicians, in Donald Trump’s party, but also in other countries and also here with us, who are minimizing it, who are pretending you can cope with the virus and nothing would happen. “
• UK Finance Minister Rishi Sunak warned that further shutdown would paralyze both the economy and society.But he admitted that ministers were divided on the issue.
• Cineworld, the world’s second-largest cinema chain, has confirmed that it will close all its cinemas in the UK, the US and Ireland this week., with the loss of up to 45,000 jobs.
• Ukraine’s health minister Maksym Stepanov says the daily number of new cases in the country could exceed 5,000 by the end of this week., after a record 4,661 on Saturday. He called the situation “tense but not critical.”
• Britain’s Vaccine Task Force Chair Kate Bingham said vaccinating everyone in the country “was not going to happen.” insisting that any hit would be “for people over 50, targeting healthcare workers and nursing home workers and the vulnerable.” READ MORE
• One of Italy’s best soccer matches ended in farce when the Juventus players took to the field despite the fact that Naples was 900 kilometers away, after the health authority (ASL) isolated it after two players tested positive in the last four days.
• German tennis player Alexander Zverev played with fever and breathing difficulties during his French Open fourth round loss to Italian Jannik Sinner, raising questions about COVID-19 protocols at the clay court Grand Slam.
CLICK: OUR SERIES EXPLORES HOW SOCIETY HAS BEEN INTERRUPTED BY THE PANDEMIC
ACROSS EUROPE
Ross Cullen in Paris
The French prime minister says new coronavirus restrictions will be introduced in Paris starting Tuesday, October 6. Jean Castex says that the French capital has passed all the criteria showing that the city should now be classified as in the “high alert zone”.
Bars will close in Paris for two weeks starting tomorrow, but restaurants can remain open if they adopt stricter sanitary measures. Working from home is now strongly recommended and university conference rooms should only be running at 50 percent capacity.
On Saturday, France recorded the highest daily number of new COVID-19 infections since the outbreak began: almost 17,000 in 24 hours. Authorities see the southern region around Marseille as especially problematic in terms of new cases, which authorities have used as justification for keeping bars closed in the second city, although restaurants can now reopen, provided they tighten health protocols that they are using in their establishments.
A banner in a closed bar in Paris reads “harassed, criminalized and convicted.” / Geoffroy van der Hasselt / AFP
A banner in a closed bar in Paris reads “harassed, criminalized and convicted.” / Geoffroy van der Hasselt / AFP
Toni Waterman in Brussels
Belgium
The Brussels capital region continues to experience the steepest increase in new coronavirus cases in Belgium. The municipality of Molenbeek-Saint-Jean is the most affected, with 744 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants and its mayor says that new measures could be introduced from Friday.
Belgium recorded an average of 2,103 new infections per day between September 25 and October 1, 32 percent more than the previous week. In an attempt to understand the spread, new test facilities are opening in the capital region, including one on the edge of the Cinquantenaire park, with the capacity to perform 1,200 tests per day. Three more facilities are scheduled to open in the city in the coming weeks.
Brussels
The president of the European Commission is the last of the high command in Brussels to go into self-isolation. In a tweet, Ursula von der Leyen said she “participated in a meeting last Tuesday attended by a person” who tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday. She said she tested negative for the virus on Thursday and would test it again on Monday.
As MEPs return to the floor, Parliament’s COVID-19 testing facility has officially opened its doors. Around 200 tests can be carried out per day and results are obtained by MEPs and their staff within 24 hours.
Mia Alberti in Frankfurt
Germany has exceeded 300,000 coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic. On Monday, there were 1,382 new cases, bringing the total to 300,619 infections. There were also five more deaths, increasing the death toll to 9,534, according to the Robert Koch Institute.
The important milestone comes as German officials impose new restrictive measures and urge citizens to redouble precautions as the number of infections increases again. On Sunday, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said that US President Donald Trump’s positive coronavirus test was proof that politicians should take the pandemic “more seriously.”
Nawied Jabarkhyl in London
Almost 16,000 COVID-19 cases have been found to go unreported in the UK in recent weeks. Public Health England, which monitors the response to the virus in the country, said 15,841 positive cases were left out of the daily figures between Sept. 25 and Oct. 2. He blamed a “technical problem” that he said has now been resolved, but there is concern that the people who came into contact with those affected have not been located.
Elsewhere, the world’s second-largest cinema chain, Cineworld, is temporarily closing its screens in the UK, the US and Ireland. The move is due to low customer demand as a result of COVID-19 and puts 45,000 jobs at risk, including 5,500 in Britain. Cineworld shares in London tumbled more than 50 percent after the news.
FROM OUR GLOBAL COLLEAGUES
CGTN Europe Special: Redesigning the future
CGTN China: Mainland China Reports 20 New COVID-19 Cases, All Overseas
CGTN America: COVID-19 Infections Rise in the US As Cooler Weather Arrives
CGTN Africa: Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa exceed 1.5 million
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Source (s): Reuters
