Governments across Europe have introduced more restrictions to combat the spread of COVID-19, with a combination of nationwide and specific regional measures and curfews imposed as the continent faces its "second wave."
Over the past 24 hours from midnight on October 18th, 1,031 cases of coronavirus were recorded and zero deaths, bringing the national totals up to 50,993 and 1,852 respectively, according to the Department of Health.
According to ECDC statistics, the number of people infected with the virus in France has shown a sign of a sudden increase since the disease was well controlled in June this year.
France, has reported a surge of infections. Within 24 hours, more than 32,000 new cases were reported. According to Google News statistics in September this year, the number of people infected with the virus in this country reached 7 thousand people. Just over a month later, this number has increased to more than 13 thousand people. This number continues to double weekly and shows no sign of stopping. Authorities have imposed a curfew in Paris and other major cities between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. All restaurants and bars must remain shutting during this time. French cities have been transformed into nightly ghost towns.
Remarkably, the number of people infected with the virus a day in France is about 30,000 people, while the population of France is only 67 million people. That is, if the French government does not control the epidemic well, within a month, the number of people infected could reach 1 million.
Germany is no exception. The number of people infected with this deadly virus is estimated at up to 8,000 people a day. Germany recorded a seven-day incidence of 45.4 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the seven-day period through October 15, according to the RKI — a relatively low rate compared with the Netherlands, which recorded 307, and Belgium, which reported over 487.5.
Currently, the number of people in Italy infected with corona virus in one day is estimated at more than 10 thousand.
Most notably, during this second outbreak, the number of people infected exceeded the number of people infected during the previous peak. Although Europe has not yet begun to enter winter, the number of people infected continues to increase like this. The question is what policies and laws must governments come up with in order to hold back the increase in the number of people infected.
According to Reuters, European shares sank on Thursday as a re-surgence in COVID-19 cases across the continent. European stock markets bounced from the coronavirus lows hit in March on a raft of global stimulus, but sentiment has recently taken a hit from the surge in infections as well as signs of a slowing economic rebound.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX fell 2.1% in its worst day in more than three weeks, with autos .SXAP, insurance .SXIP and energy .SXEP stocks tumbling more than 2%. The benchmark stock index nevertheless ended Friday with its first weekly decline in three as the resurgence in coronavirus cases across Europe stoked fears about more sweeping lockdowns.
Besides, the UK’s FTSE 100 was down 1.7% as the government imposed tighter restrictions in London, while investors looked for signs of progress towards a Brexit trade deal at the two-day European Union summit that began on Thursday.
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