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Millions of Europeans face tough new restrictions on the coronavirus as governments try to fight the rise in infections.
On Saturday, Paris and other French cities will be subjected to a night curfew that will last at least a month.
Meanwhile, the UK is banning mixed family gatherings in the capital city of London, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged citizens to stay home whenever possible after 7,830 cases emerged in 24 hours.
“We have to do everything we can to prevent the virus from spreading uncontrollably. Every day counts, ”Merkel said in a weekly video podcast on Saturday.
Cases of the disease, which has disrupted lives around the world and wreaked social and economic havoc, have soared beyond levels seen in the first wave earlier this year, when many countries tried to stem the tide with lockdowns. of varying degrees.
The World Health Organization (WHO) called a 44 percent increase in European cases in one week as “very worrying.”
Faced with the sudden increase, governments have been forced to implement increasingly stringent measures to control the spread of the virus, while trying to avoid total lockdowns.
On the other hand, Belgian Foreign Minister Sophie Wilmes became the latest politician to test positive for the new coronavirus.
“My COVID test result is positive. The contamination probably occurred within my family circle given the precautions taken outside my home, ”he said on Twitter.
About 20 million people in Paris and several other cities are under a night curfew [File: Thomas Coex/AFP]
The virus has killed 1.1 million people worldwide since it first appeared in China in December, and the United States suffered the most deaths of any country at more than 218,000.
Around 20 million people in Paris and several other French cities were facing the start of a curfew from 9:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. (19: 00-04: 00 GMT) after the country registered Thursday. a new record of 30,000 cases in 24 hours. in one of the most important hot spots in Europe.
“It’s terrible. I think I came back in March,” Hocine Saal, head of emergency services at the hospital in the Parisian suburb of Montreuil, told AFP, adding that the growing number of coronavirus-free patients makes coping with the situation difficult. ” really difficult “.
In the UK, which has the highest death toll in Europe at over 43,000, restrictions are being tightened with bans on indoor gatherings between members of different households in London and several other English cities.
Approximately 28 million people, almost half of the UK population, are now subject to strict social restrictions. But some cities have seen angry protests for what some people see as a return to virtual shutdown.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that local restriction policies, designed to avoid a new large-scale lockdown, cannot be “painless.”
In Italy, the wealthy northern region of Lombardy has ordered all bars to close at midnight, as the area where the first virus cases emerged in Europe in February fights a second wave.
Elsewhere in Europe, Poland, the Czech Republic and Belgium announced record daily case volumes this week.
Belgian authorities said on Saturday they had reached 200,000 cases less than a month after exceeding 100,000.
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