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Spain declared a national state of emergency on Sunday to cope with a second wave of coronavirus, as the World Health Organization (WHO) reported a third consecutive day of record new infections around the world.
France set a daily record of more than 50,000 Covid-19 cases, while Chinese officials began conducting massive tests to cover 4.75 million residents in the far northwest after 137 new infections were discovered there.
In the United States, which has the world’s worst death toll with around 225,000 deaths, challenger Joe Biden accused President Donald Trump’s administration of waving “the white flag of defeat” after his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, said : “We are not going to control the pandemic.”
The WHO warned that some countries are on a “dangerous path”, with too many witnesses to an exponential increase in cases, and called on authorities to take decisive action to stop the spread of the disease.
Figures from the UN agency showed that 465,319 cases were reported on Saturday alone, half of them in Europe, which is at an especially critical juncture with the coming winter.
Covid-19 has claimed the lives of 1.1 million people and infected more than 42 million worldwide.
WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for global solidarity in a future launch of any vaccine and warned that “vaccine nationalism will prolong the pandemic, not shorten it.”
As the disease continued its relentless march through Europe, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced the new state of emergency and night curfews throughout the country except the Canary Islands.
Spain was the first EU member state to pass the grim milestone of one million cases and has been joined by France’s northern neighbor since then.
“The situation we are going through is extreme,” said Sánchez.
Italy, the epicenter of the first European outbreak, also increased restrictions on daily life, ordered the closure of theaters, cinemas and gyms, and closed bars and restaurants early.
Governments are struggling to balance the new restrictions with the need to revive economies already hit by previous draconian lockdowns after the virus first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.
But populations tired of social isolation and economic difficulties have bristled at the harshest measures.
“This is going to destroy us,” Augusto D’Alfonsi, owner of the Torricella family’s fish restaurant in Rome, told AFP after the new measures were announced.
“We have already lost 50 percent of our clients this year. Without government help, we are lost.”
Dozens of far-right protesters in Rome clashed with riot police overnight during an anti-curfew demonstration, lighting fireworks, burning containers and launching projectiles.
Berlin police also broke up a protest against sidewalks and launched an arson investigation after an attack on a building that housed the public health agency.
There has also been opposition to stricter restrictions in Spain, but some said they accepted the need for controls.
“The curfew is good for those who are drinking a lot on the street lately, because at our age people go out a lot, get out of control and then what happens happens,” said 17-year-old student Juan Pelayo in the town. from Valladolid.
The pensioner José Benítez, 76, said in Barcelona: “It starts to worry me, because if I catch him at my age, I won’t get it.”
The United States remains the worst-affected country on the planet, setting a daily record for new Covid-19 cases for the second day in a row on Saturday, at nearly 89,000, with a further increase expected as cold weather arrives.
The virus has become a central issue ahead of the Nov.3 election, with Biden and Trump arguing over the president’s handling of the pandemic.
Vice President of the United States Chief of Staff Mike Pence tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday, the latest in a list of figures connected to the Trump administration to do so.
“The idea that this White House has somehow done anything but screw this up is bullshit,” said Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama, who came out on the campaign trail Saturday to campaign for Biden, his former MP.
After the United States, the most affected countries are Brazil, India, Mexico and Great Britain, while Colombia is the last country to register one million confirmed cases of coronavirus.
The disease has not spared politicians, with Bulgaria’s prime minister joining a growing list of leaders who have tested positive for coronavirus.
Covid-19 is also coming to holiday events.
In Germany, Frankfurt became the latest city to cancel its traditional Christmas market.
Typically it attracts more than two million visitors who come to drink mulled wine, nibble on roasted chestnuts, and shop for seasonal trinkets among a cluster of wooden chalets.
strawberries / wai / tgb
