Foreign News Desk
BRUSSELS: Europe is struggling with a new surge in COVID-19 cases, with countries hitting record daily highs. Europe registered 96,996 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking its total to 6,558,747 with 243,767 deaths, according to the World Health Organization.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control added Thursday ten more countries to its “red list” on its coronavirus map, meaning those countries have crossed the threshold of 120 infections per 100,000 people in the past two weeks.
SITUATION NOT OPTIMISTIC
Germany’s COVID-19 cases jumped by 4,058 in the past 24 hours to reach 310,144, the first time that the number of new daily infections in the country has soared past 4,000 since early April.
A further 18,129 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in a 24-hour span in France, the second consecutive day that the country’s daily number of COVID-19 cases topped 18,000. Infections in Britain have reached record levels with over 17,000 new cases reported Thursday.
The Czech Republic reported 5,335 new coronavirus cases Wednesday, its highest one-day tally since the pandemic started. The rise surpassed a previous record of 4,457 reported the previous day. The average number of new infections reported in Belgium has been increasing for seven days straight, with a record daily surge of 3,577 over the past day.
Poland reported a record of 4,280 daily coronavirus cases Thursday as well as a new daily record of 76 deaths related to the disease.
Austria reported its biggest daily increase in COVID-19 cases on record as a further 1,209 people tested positive in the past 24 hours, the highest number since the pandemic broke out. Furthermore, Croatia, Slovenia and Latvia also saw a record daily spike in COVID-19 cases.
STRICT CONTROLS
The German capital introduced its first curfew in 70 years for businesses on Tuesday. Starting from Saturday, restaurants, bars, local shops and other businesses will have to shut between 23:00 p.m. local time and 06:00 a.m.
French Health Minister Olivier Veran announced Thursday that four more cities in the country, namely Lille, Grenoble, Lyon and Saint-Etienne, have reached the maximum coronavirus alert zone and must implement stricter restrictions from Saturday morning, while Marseille and Guadeloupe were already on maximum alert from Sept. 28 and Paris from early this week.
