COPENHAGEN: In another grim landmark, the number of coronavirus cases surged past 30 million around the globe as the UN health body warned of “alarming rates of transmission” across Europe and cautioned against shortening quarantine periods.
The World Health Organization’s regional director for Europe Hans Kluge said a September surge “should serve as a wake-up call for all of us” after Europe set a new record last week, with some 54,000 cases recorded in 24 hours.
“Although these numbers reflect more comprehensive testing, it also shows alarming rates of transmission across the region,” he told an online news conference from Copenhagen.
More than 30 million infections have been recorded and more than 943,000 people have died since the novel coronavirus emerged in China late last year. Europe accounts for 4.7 million of the total.
Across Europe, governments are battling to contain the fresh spike in cases, while wanting to avoiding inflicting fresh damage on their economies and imposing broad new restrictions on their virus-weary populations.
French authorities are preparing tighter restrictions in several cities to curtail a surge in COVID-19 cases that has seen nearly 10,000 new cases per day reported over the past week.
Health Minister Olivier Veran said new measures would be announced for Lyon and Nice by Saturday, after curbs on public gatherings were imposed this week in Bordeaux and Marseille.
In Britain, new measures will take effect Friday, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson warning that pubs may have to close earlier to help avoid a “second hump” of coronavirus cases.
Residents of northeast England, including the cities of Newcastle and Sunderland, will no longer be allowed to meet people outside their own homes.
The government, which is facing criticism over a lack of testing capacity, imposed rules across England on Monday limiting socialising to groups of six or fewer, as daily cases reached levels not seen since early May.
Britain has been Europe’s worst-hit country with nearly 42,000 deaths.
The city of Madrid meanwhile backtracked on a plan for targeted lockdowns and said it would instead move to “reduce mobility and contacts” in areas with high infection rates.
Austria announced that private indoor gatherings would be limited to 10 people, including all parties, private events and meetings indoors.
Chancellor Sebastian Kurz had warned earlier this week that the Alpine nation was entering a second wave of infections.
