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With the arrival of the winter season, France imposed a nightly curfew, while other European countries closed schools, canceled surgeries and summoned armies of medical students to work, amid enormous pressure on authorities facing the worst possible scenario of the increase in Covid-19 cases.
With the arrival of nearly 100,000 new cases of contagion in it daily, Europe has surpassed, by a wide margin, the United States, which witnesses the registration of more than 51,000 cases of Covid-19 on average per day.
Night curfew in Paris
With cases registering fast jumps in France, President Emmanuel Macron announced a four-week night curfew starting Saturday in Paris and other major cities, affecting nearly a third of the country’s population of 67 million.
Macron said in an interview with French television that the curfew will temporarily stop “parties and good times, where 50 or 60 people gather, and festive evenings because, unfortunately, they are factors that accelerate the spread of the disease.” “We will go further than this if we stick together.” “We have to act,” he said. He noted that France has not lost control of the virus, but added: “We are in a worrying situation.”
Most European governments eased lockdown measures in the summer to start reviving their economies, which are already headed for unprecedented decline and job losses due to the first wave of the coronavirus outbreak.
Severe increase in injuries
But the return to normal activities, from crowded restaurants to the start of the new academic year, has led to a sharp increase in infection cases across the continent.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she and the leaders of Germany’s 16 states agreed on stricter measures Wednesday, without giving details. “We are already in the accelerated growth stage, as the daily figures show,” he said.
Bars were among the first victims of the new blanket isolation measures, as authorities issued orders to close them or reduce their working time, but the increase in cases is currently testing governments’ determination to keep schools open and healthcare facilities for patients who do not have Covid-19. In fact, Pope Francis was subject to the new rules of the Corona virus. He kept a safe distance from the crowd during his weekly sermon Wednesday.
In Lisbon, soccer fans were not surprised after Portugal’s captain Cristiano Ronaldo tested positive for the virus, saying the pandemic had simply shown everyone was at risk of infection and famous athletes were no exception. .
Thousands of medical students summoned
The Czech Republic, the country with the highest number of HIV-positive countries in Europe, has switched schools to the distance education system and plans to invite thousands of medical students. Hospitals reduce the incidence of non-urgent medical interventions to evacuate patient beds.
“Sometimes we are about to cry,” said Lenka Kyriakova, head nurse at Slany Hospital near Prague, where builders are working to convert the general ward into a unit for the treatment of Covid-19.
Poland is intensifying the training of nurses and is considering the creation of military field hospitals. Moscow will convert many students to the distance education system, while Northern Ireland will close schools for two weeks.
‘On the brink of disaster’
“I don’t have any good information. We are on the brink of catastrophe,” Paul Gryzewski, an immunologist in Poland, said Wednesday, registering 6,526 cases and 116 deaths.
Irish Prime Minister Michael Martin described the high number of cases in Northern Ireland as “extremely worrying” and the government increased restrictions in three border provinces.
Efforts to develop a vaccine face roadblocks in some areas, as Johnson & Johnson temporarily halted its trials after one of the study participants fell ill with a mysterious illness. AstraZeneca’s trial in the United States has been pending for more than a month.
Meanwhile, Russia, which has seen a record daily increase in cases, has granted regulatory approval for a second vaccine.
Impossible options
Major European powers such as Germany, Britain and France have so far resisted pressure to close schools, a step that created difficulties during the general isolation measures in the spring as parents took turns working from home and caring for children. the children.
In Germany, politicians are investigating whether they will extend school holidays over Christmas and New Years to reduce transmission of the infection, but critics of the idea say there is no evidence that schools have been hot spots for the disease.
The Netherlands restored a partial lockdown on Wednesday, closing bars and restaurants and keeping schools open.
The daily incidence rate in Europe reached 100,000 cases, roughly a third of global injuries, forcing governments to tighten restrictions as they tried to set standards to protect health without destroying livelihoods.
The World Health Organization says Britain, France, Russia and Spain accounted for more than half of new infections in Europe in the week ending Oct. 11.
In the United States, where there is the highest number of confirmed infections in the world, 22 states since early October have seen record increases in new cases. But deaths are trending downward, averaging 700 a day over the past week.
Field hospitals
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces calls from the opposition to re-declare blockade measures in the country, but has so far resisted. However, hospital admissions are on the rise, and field medical facilities built in the spring are ready again.
The Financial Times reported that London would face tighter restrictions in a few days.
In Spain, the Catalan authorities plan to announce the closure of bars and restaurants for a period of two weeks or a significant reduction in their working hours.
And in Belgium, the second most affected country in Europe by population, hospitals must now block a quarter of their beds for COVID-19 patients.
“We can’t see the end of the tunnel today,” said Rino Mazi, managing director of the Saint-Luc University clinics in Brussels.
And in Australia, which is one of the most successful countries in fighting the virus, pockets of outbreaks have emerged in the two most populous states, prompting New South Wales to postpone the easing of some restrictions.
Malaysia imposed new restrictions, as the royal palace postponed all meetings for two weeks.
The article expresses the opinion of its author and is not necessarily the policy of the site.
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