Covid 19 coronavirus: French doctor warns that his country has ‘lost control’

A French doctor today warned

that his country has “lost control of the Covid-19 epidemic”, a day after health authorities reported more than 52,000 new cases of coronavirus as nations in Europe enact more radical restrictions to try to curb the increasing infection rates.

Spain, the first European country to exceed one million confirmed cases of Covid-19, declared a state of emergency yesterday.

which included a nationwide night curfew, a six-person cap on social gatherings, and possible travel bans in and out of the worst-hit regions.

The effect was evident in the famous Las Ramblas promenade in Barcelona, ​​which was left deserted for the last time

night when normally it would have been crowded.

In two of the main Italian cities, people took to the streets amid a retreat of small sectors of society to new restrictions. On Friday, protesters in Naples protested against the locally imposed curfew from 23:00 to 5:00 and clashed with the police. On Saturday night, far-right groups and neo-fascists led a similar protest in Rome against the curfew. Another protest is scheduled for today in Milan.

Dr Jean-François Delfraissy, chairman of the scientific council that advises the French government on the virus, said the country is in a “very difficult, even critical situation.”

“There are probably more than 50,000 new cases every day. Our estimate at the Scientific Council is closer to 100,000, double that,” Delfraissy told RTL radio. “Among the unexamined and the asymptomatic patients, we are close to that number of cases. This means that the virus is spreading extremely fast.”

France declared a state of emergency earlier this month and has been imposing increasing restrictions since September to try to ease pressure on French hospitals, where Covid-19 patients occupy more than half of all beds in the hospital. ICU.

Dr. Eric Caumes, head of the department of tropical infections and diseases at the Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital in Paris, said the country must be closed again.

“We lost control of the epidemic, but that is not yesterday,” he told Franceinfo broadcaster. “We lost control of the epidemic several weeks ago.”

The confirmed death toll in Europe has exceeded 250,000 according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University, which puts the world number at more than 1.1 million.

A senior official at the World Health Organization said national blockades could be avoided if people are willing to make sacrifices.

Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical lead on Covid-19, said she hoped countries would use other tools to stop transmission, including strengthening their surveillance, testing and contact tracing systems.

“We can avoid national blockades,” Van Kerkhove said. He said people should take personal responsibility for day-to-day decisions, such as whether or not to go to crowded places, avoid closed places and postpone social gatherings.

Italy, the first country in the West to be attacked by Covid-19, took new measures over the weekend to try to stem the new outbreak, ordering restaurants and bars to close at 6 p.m. and closing gyms, swimming pools and cinemas. .

The measures, which went into effect Monday, also require high schools to transition to at least 75 percent distance learning and allow younger students to remain in classrooms. Indoor and outdoor gatherings, including those for religious reasons, are prohibited, and the government strongly advises people to avoid having guests at home and traveling around the country, except for work, health, or other needs. .

The new restrictions sent Matteo Serba, a Rome resident, to the city’s Villa Borghese for a run on Monday.

“I used to go to the gym. Now running in the park is the alternative,” Serba said. “Unfortunately, we have no alternative but to come here. It is sad, but we have been asked to do so and we abide by the rules.”

Italy has recorded around 20,000 new confirmed infections per day and health authorities have warned that some Covid-19 wards in hospitals are at risk of reaching saturation point in the next week or two.

British authorities are likely to tighten restrictions in more areas of the country this week, amid mixed signals about whether measures introduced in recent weeks have curbed a sharp rise in infections.

The government’s scientific advisers say there are some signs that the rise has started to stabilize since a three-tier system of restrictions took effect, but that it is too early to be sure.

Much of the north of England, including the major cities of Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield, has been placed at the upper level of “very high” risk, with pubs closed and people from different households banned from mingling. The government said that Warrington, another large city in the Northwest, will be added to the top tier today. Another city, Nottingham, will follow Thursday, authorities said.

Lawmakers from the Czech Republic, which has been one of the nations hardest hit by the resurgence of the pandemic in Europe, will approve this week a government plan to recruit up to 300 military servicemen from NATO and EU countries to help treat the influx. of patients.

They will help their Czech colleagues at the Prague military hospital and at a 500-patient field hospital that the armed forces completed over the weekend at the Prague fairgrounds. The first batch of 28 medics from the US National Guard is expected to arrive later this week.

Authorities also said they are canceling Prague’s main Christmas markets due to the virus.

The Bavarian city of Nuremberg has also canceled its large Christmas market, one of the best known and a major tourist attraction in Germany. City officials originally wanted the bustling Christkindlesmarkt to move forward under strict hygiene rules, but Mayor Marcus Koenig said they concluded it would send the wrong signal as virus cases rise.

“This decision is very difficult for us. The Christkindlesmarkt with its great tradition belongs to Nuremberg,” said Koenig.

Rising coronavirus numbers in Germany also prompted Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party to delay a second time deciding who will become its new leader, one that had already been fueled by the pandemic from spring through December.

Whoever wins the leadership of the Christian Democratic Union will be in a position to become the center-right candidate to succeed Merkel as chancellor in the German elections scheduled for next fall, although that is not guaranteed.

– AP