Europeans urge wider curbs as COVID sweeps continent, batters the US
31 October, 2020
EU officials warned Europe to be equipped for wider COVID restrictions as infections surged over the continent, France and Germany prepared curbs almost as strict as their spring lockdowns and cases soared across the United States.
Europe and America have emerged as the existing danger zones for COVID-19, which was first determined in China in December, in a worldwide crisis in which a lot more than 44.94 million persons have already been infected and 1,178,943 have died.
"Given the very dynamic situation in all of Europe, we must equally reduce contact in almost all Europe," German Health Minister Jens Spahn told journalists after a video conference of EU health ministers that he chaired.
EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides echoed the decision.
"We must pull through this, where needed, with restrictions on everyday life to break the chain of transmission," she told the video conference.
France and Germany announced new lockdowns this week as infections on the continent passed the 10-million milestone and hospitals and intensive care units chock-full again.
Bars, restaurants, sports, and cultural events have already been restricted or closed in several other European countries.
Belgium, among Europe's worst-affected countries, recorded typically 15,316 new infections each day in mid-October. Italy and Austria recorded their highest daily number of infections to date on Friday.
Checkpoints have been set up across Portugal to avoid unauthorized travel during a five-day movement ban which commenced on Friday.
Russia has seen coronavirus cases swell in recent weeks and reported 18,283 new infections on Friday, the best tally recorded because the pandemic began, and 355 deaths.
Poland reported a fourth consecutive daily record for new cases. Britain resisted the thought of a fresh national lockdown, even while a survey showed soaring infections.
'AMERICAN FIASCO'
Gloom over the rising infections has hit financial markets. US stocks fell, dragged down by a slide in shares of tech heavyweights following their quarterly results, with a record rise in coronavirus cases and nerves over the presidential election adding to a downbeat mood globally.
Illustrating the difficulty in reining in the virus without destroying the economy, Britain's "eat out to greatly help out" discount scheme to boost spending at restaurants, cafes and pubs over the summertime helped spread the coronavirus, according to a fresh study.
European Central Bank policymakers said governments must be selective in shutting down monetary activity to combat the pandemic and have to keep spending up to aid businesses and families.
"We must try to defeat the virus without totally shutting down the economy since the consequences when it comes to the loss of economical activity have become, very intense," ECB Vice President Luis de Guindos said.
An archive surge of infections in the United States is pushing hospitals to the brink of capacity and killing up to 1 1,000 persons a day prior to the Nov. 3 election, where handling of the pandemic has become the main issue.
AMERICA broke its single-day record for new coronavirus infections on Thursday, reporting at least 91,248 new cases, as 21 states reported their highest daily number of hospitalized patients because the pandemic started, according to a Reuters tally of publicly reported data.
"We're going in the wrong direction," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, a respected White House task force member and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
The surge has revived a number of the worst images of the first wave of the virus in March, April, and May, with persons on ventilators dying alone in isolation and medical staff physically and mentally exhausted.
Among the hardest-hit states are those most hotly contested in the election campaign between Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden, such as for example Ohio, Michigan, NEW YORK, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
Trump has downplayed the virus because the pandemic began, ridiculing Fauci and mocking social distancing and the wearing of masks. He has repeatedly told campaign rallies the united states is "rounding the turn" on the pandemic to the delight of his mostly non-mask wearing supporters but infuriating Democrats.
"The virus is a worldwide scourge, nonetheless it has been an American fiasco, killing more persons in the USA than in any other country," said an interim report by Democratic staff of the home Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis.
The World Health Organization's (WHO) top emergency expert, Mike Ryan, told a virtual briefing in Geneva that early voting in America appears to have gone well from a health viewpoint.
"From what we observe, the first voting process seems to have already been undertaken with great care," he said.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com