Europe on alert after daily infections surge

France urges discipline as new virus cases jump to 1,130, with Spain and Romania also suffering

FRANCE sounded a clarion call yesterday, warning that its progress in the fight against the coronavirus since the end of lockdown had been “erased” as Europe faced a significant surge in new infections.

Health officials in Paris pointed to “the clear increase” in infections, with 1,130 new cases detected across the country on Friday.

Just 81 new daily infections were reported on June 24 after lockdown was eased at the end of May. France’s health ministry said: “We have returned to levels comparable with those at the end of the lockdown period. We have thus erased a good part of the progress made during the initial weeks since the lockdown was lifted. It’s more essential than ever to reimpose our collective discipline.”

The R rate – which determines whether the virus is spreading – has risen to 1.3 in France.

While well below the figure of around three that most countries were reporting when the pandemic was at its most virulent, it still means that for every 10 people with Covid-19, some 13 more will become infected.

From the Atlantic in the west through to the Black Sea in the east, the figures in Europe tell a similar story. New daily infections in Spain dipped to an average of 132 in June, but were at 2,615 last Thursday, while Romania last week recorded its worst day ever, with 1,119 new cases on Friday.

Other Balkan states, including Bulgaria and Serbia, are also showing increases, though the death tolls there are a fraction of what they are in the Western European countries.

Experts said an uptick was to be expected but there were worrying trends. There are calls for a rethink on how to ease lockdown in some countries.

France is renewing efforts to get its population to work at home, just as Boris Johnson is trying to persuade British workers to go back to the office.

It is also insisting on giving Covid-19 tests to those arriving from 16 countries, including the US and Brazil, but excluding Britain.

Officials are angry about a surge in cases in Catalonia, though they have stopped short of closing the border.

Jean Castex, the French prime minister, said on Friday: “We strongly urge French people to avoid going there until the health situation improves.” As for people travelling to France from Spain,

“we are in talks with the Spanish and Catalan authorities so that ... they try to limit the flow as much as possible”, he said. Catalonia reacted by shutting down its nightclubs yesterday. The ban is in place for at least 15 days, and opening hours for casinos and bingo halls are also being cut. There will be reduced opening for restaurants and bars in the worst-hit areas.

Bharat Pankhania, senior clinical lecturer at the University of Exeter’s Medical School, said: “I am very worried about what’s happening in Europe. If you say the war is over and declare victory, what do you expect? It’s all very predictable. I cannot understand why anyone would reopen nightclubs. What were they thinking?”

Richard Stutt, postdoctoral research associate in the epidemiology and modelling group at the University of Cambridge, suggested improved testing meant the latest figures did not compare directly with those of a few months ago. He said: “The uptick is real and there is a lag. It could just be a blip rather than a massive resurgence.”

British holidaymakers returning from Spain were told last night they would face quarantine when landing in the UK from today. The nation is no longer on the UK’s list of 78 countries exempted from quarantine. Portugal, which has around an eighth of the new infection rate of Spain, is also excluded.

One of the few countries to buck the current trend is Sweden, where new infections stood at 82 on Friday, against a daily figure of 1,803 on June 24. It has pursued a “lockdown-light” approach, keeping businesses and schools open. It has suffered more than 5,697 deaths, vastly more than its neighbours.