Europe reels as it sets new COVID-19 records, slaps on new rules
By Orange County on October 15, 2020
By GEIR MOULSON | Associated Press
BERLIN — Fears rose Thursday that Europe is running out of time to control a resurgence of the coronavirus as infections hit record daily highs in Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy and Poland. France slapped a 9 p.m. curfew on many of its biggest cities and Londoners faced new travel restrictions as governments imposed increasingly tough measures.
Newly confirmed cases have surged across Europe over recent weeks as the fall kicks in, prompting authorities to bring back measures that had been relaxed over the summer. The Czech Republic, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, France and Britain are among the countries causing particular concern.
The head of the World Health Organization’s Europe office urged governments to be “uncompromising” in controlling the virus. He said most of the spread is happening in homes, indoor spaces and communities not complying with protection measures.
People wearing masks walk near the Atlantic ocean in Biarritz, southwestern France, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020. French President Emmanuel Macron has announced that millions of French citizens in several regions around the country, including in Paris, will have to respect a 9pm curfew from this Saturday until Dec. 1. It’s a new measure aimed at curbing the resurgent coronavirus amid second wave. (AP Photo/Bob Edme)
People walk across the London Millennium Footbridge, in London, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020. London will be moved into a coronavirus Tier 2 lockdown as part of the British governments new alert system for rising case numbers, starting midnight local time on Friday night into Saturday. The new restrictions will include stopping different households from mixing indoors and people should aim to avoid public transport if they can. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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Nurse Paula Gonzalez dresses in full protective gear before entering the red zone of a hotel for COVID-19 patients under quarantine in Leganes, outskirts of Madrid, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020. The red zone marks the hotel area where coronavirus patients stay. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Nurse Paula Gonzalez dresses in full protective gear before entering the red zone of a hotel for COVID-19 patients under quarantine in Leganes, outskirts of Madrid, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020. The red zone marks the hotel area where coronavirus patients stay. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Nurse Paula Gonzalez, right, welcomes coronavirus patient Maribel Soliz , center, at a hotel in Leganes, outskirts of Madrid, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020. The NH Leganes is one of the hotels run by health professionals to quarantine COVID-19 patients from Madrid area. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Nurse Paula Gonzalez works for COVID-19 patients under quarantine in Leganes, outskirts of Madrid, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Cars line up in a traffic jam to enter Germany at the French-German border in a fear of a new lockdown, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020 in Strasbourg, eastern France. Fear of potential border closures prompted huge traffic jams around the eastern French city of Strasbourg, notably involving French shoppers driving across the Rhine River to Germany to stock up on cigarettes and other goods that are cheaper on the German side. France is deploying 12,000 police officers to enforce a new curfew coming into effect Friday night for the next month to slow the virus spread, and will spend another 1 billion euros to help businesses hit by the new restrictions. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)
German police officers patrol in Kehl, Germany, at the German-French border Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020. Fear of potential border closures prompted huge traffic jams around the eastern French city of Strasbourg, notably involving French shoppers driving across the Rhine River to Germany to stock up on cigarettes and other goods that are cheaper on the German side. France is deploying 12,000 police officers to enforce a new curfew coming into effect Friday night for the next month to slow the virus spread, and will spend another 1 billion euros to help businesses hit by the new restrictions. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)
A woman wears a face mask in Belfast city centre, Northern Ireland, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020. Northern Ireland introducing the tightest COVID-19 restrictions in the United Kingdom on Wednesday, closing schools for two weeks and pubs and restaurants for a month. “This is not the time for trite political points,” First Minister Arlene Foster told lawmakers at the regional assembly in Belfast. “This is the time for solutions.” (Brian Lawless/PA via AP)
A medical worker wears as mask that reads “heal and shut up,” as she demonstrates to demand better salaries and working conditions in Paris, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020. French President Emmanuel Macron has announced that millions of French citizens in several regions around the country, including in Paris, will have to respect a 9pm curfew from this Saturday until Dec. 1. It’s a new measure aimed at curbing the resurgent coronavirus amid second wave. The measures will require citizens in certain regions where the coronavirus is circulating to be at home after 9pm. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
A street vendor sells face masks downtown Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020. Coronavirus infections in the Czech Republic have hit a new record high, surpassing 9,000 confirmed cases in one day for the first time. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Tourists shops are empty in a deserted street just outside the Sacre Coeur basilica in the Montmartre district of Paris, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020. France is deploying 12,000 police officers to enforce a new curfew coming into effect Friday night for the next month to slow the virus spread, and will spend another 1 billion euros to help businesses hit by the new restrictions. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly)
People wait in line for a COVID-19 test at a coronavirus test center in Cologne, Germany, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020. The city exceeded the important warning level of 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days. More and more German cities become official high risk corona hotspots with travel restrictions within Germany. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Medical staff takes a COVID-19 test at a coronavirus test center in Cologne, Germany, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020. The city exceeded the important warning level of 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days. More and more German cities become official high risk corona hotspots with travel restrictions within Germany. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
French citizen board a tramway to return in France, after shopping in Kehl, Germany, at the German-French border Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020. Fear of potential border closures prompted huge traffic jams around the eastern French city of Strasbourg, notably involving French shoppers driving across the Rhine River to Germany to stock up on cigarettes and other goods that are cheaper on the German side. France is deploying 12,000 police officers to enforce a new curfew coming into effect Friday night for the next month to slow the virus spread, and will spend another 1 billion euros to help businesses hit by the new restrictions. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)
Police with face masks control the coronavirus orders at the train station in Cologne, Germany, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020. The city exceeded the important warning level of 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days. More and more German cities become official high risk corona hotspots with travel restrictions within Germany. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Medical staff takes a swabs as she tests a boy for COVID-19 at a drive-through at the San Paolo hospital, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020. Coronavirus infections are surging again in the region of northern Italy where the pandemic first took hold in Europe, renewing pressure on hospitals and health care workers. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
“These measures are meant to keep us all ahead of the curve and to flatten its course,” Dr. Hans Kluge said, while wearing a mask. “It is therefore up to us to accept them while they are still relatively easy to follow instead of following the path of severity.”
European nations have seen nearly 230,000 confirmed deaths in total from the virus — more than the nearly 217,000 deaths reported so far in the United States, according to figures tallied by Johns Hopkins University that experts agree understate the true toll of the pandemic.
Europe’s financial markets fell sharply Thursday on concerns that the new restrictions on swaths of the region’s economy are already ending the nascent recovery from its sharpest recession in modern history. Major stock indexes were well over 2% lower in Europe.
While Germany, the European Union’s most populous nation, is still in comparatively good shape, alarm bells are ringing there too. The national disease control center reported over 6,600 new cases Thursday — exceeding the previous daily record set in late March, though testing has expanded greatly since then.
Chancellor Angela Merkel and Germany’s 16 state governors — who are responsible for imposing and lifting restrictions — agreed Wednesday night to tighten mask-wearing rules, make bars close early and limit the number of people who can gather in areas where infection rates are high. But those decisions “probably won’t be enough,” Merkel’s chief of staff, Helge Braun, told ARD television.
Germany added all of continental France and the Netherlands to its lengthy list of high-risk areas, meaning travelers coming from there must go into quarantine for two weeks or until they provide a negative test.
This week has seen the Netherlands close bars and restaurants, and the Czech Republic and Northern Ireland shut down schools. The Czech Health Ministry confirmed more than 9,500 new virus cases on Wednesday, over 900 more than the days-old previous record. The government announced Thursday that the military will set up a virus hospital at Prague’s exhibition center.
“We have to build extra capacity as soon as possible,” Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said. “We have no time. The prognosis is not good.”
In France, which reported over 22,000 new infections Wednesday, President Emmanuel Macron put 18 million residents in nine regions, including Paris, under a 9 p.m. curfew starting Saturday.
France will deploy 12,000 police officers to enforce the curfew and will spend an additional 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) to help businesses hit by the new restrictions.
“Our compatriots thought this health crisis was behind us,” Prime Minister Jean Castex said. “But we can’t live normally again as long as the virus is here.”
Just as Macron’s government tackles the resurgence of infections, French police on Thursday searched the homes of a former prime minister, the current and former health ministers and other top officials in an investigation into the government’s pandemic response. It was triggered by dozens of complaints over recent months, particularly over shortages of masks and other equipment.
Aurelien Rousseau, director of the Paris region’s public health agency, said nearly half of its intensive care beds are now occupied by coronavirus patients, with other hospital beds filling rapidly too.
“It’s a kind of spring tide that affects everybody simultaneously,” Rousseau said. “We had a blind spot in our tracking policies. It was the private sphere, festive events.”
The British government on Thursday moved London and a half-dozen other areas into the country’s second-highest virus risk level, meaning that millions will be barred from meeting people from other households in an indoor setting and will be asked to minimize travel.
“I know that these restrictions are difficult for people,” said British Health Secretary Matt Hancock. “But it is essential that we do bring them in both to keep people safe and to prevent greater economic damage in the future.”
Italy on Thursday recorded its biggest single-day jump in infections since the start of the pandemic. It added over 8,800 cases and 83 deaths amid a resurgence that is straining the country’s contact-tracing system.
Poland registered a record of nearly 9,000 new cases on Thursday. Masks have been required outdoors since Saturday and strict limits have been imposed on the size of gatherings.
Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia also announced record daily case numbers.
Portugal moved to restrict social gatherings to a maximum of five people, while preparing to make masks mandatory outdoors and to impose fines on those disregarding the rules.
Even Sweden, which has chosen a much-debated approach of keeping large parts of society open, raised the prospect of tougher restrictions.
“Too many don’t follow the rules,” Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said. “If there is no correction here, we must take sharper measures.” He didn’t elaborate.
In Germany, Bavaria’s outspoken governor, Markus Soeder, hammered home the importance of taking action now, arguing that “everything that comes later will cost more.”
“I’ll even go so far as to say that Europe’s prosperity is at stake,” he said.
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Associated Press writers around Europe contributed to this report.
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