VIRUS SURGES; EUROPE TIGHTENS RESTRICTIONS
Health care services straining under rising caseload
Coronavirus cases hit new daily highs this week in Russia, and Germany and Britain announced plans Tuesday to expand virus testing as European countries battled rapidly increasing COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations.
Nations reintroduced restrictions to get ahead of a virus that has caused more than 1.2 million deaths around the globe, over 270,000 of them in Europe, according to Johns Hopkins University, and is straining health care systems.
New measures took effect Tuesday in Austria, Greece and Sweden, following a partial shutdown imposed in Germany on Monday and tighter rules in Italy, France, Kosovo and Croatia. England faces a near-total lockdown from Thursday, although schools and universities will stay open.
Infections spiked in Russia, where authorities reported 18,648 new cases Tuesday. It was the fifth straight day of more than 18,000 confirmed cases, compared to the country’s daily record of over 11,000 in the spring.
Russia has the world’s fourth-highest reported coronavirus caseload with over 1.6 million people confirmed infected, including more than 28,000 who died in the pandemic.
The country lifted most virus-related restrictions this summer, and Russian officials say the health care system can cope. However, alarming reports have surfaced of overwhelmed hospitals, drug shortages and inundated medical workers.
Sweden, where the government skipped the lockdowns other nations adopted for a much-debated approach that kept much of society open, set new nationwide limits on restaurants and cafes, ordering them them to serve only seated customers and with a maximum of eight per table. The Scandinavian country announced local restrictions in three
more counties that include Sweden’s largest cities.
“We are going in the wrong direction. The situation is very serious,” Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said. “Now, every citizen needs to take responsibility. We know how dangerous this is.”
The country of 10 million people has 134,532 reported cases and nearly 6,000 deaths.
Amid the gloom, a partial lockdown in the Netherlands appeared to be paying off; Dutch officials reported the number of new confirmed cases fell 5 percent to 64,087 in the past seven days, the first decline in weeks.
The fall came three weeks after the government put the
nation of 17 million on partial lockdown, including closing bars and restaurants, halting amateur sports for adults and urging people to work from home.
Dutch authorities remain concerned the number of COVID-19 patients is putting an unbearable strain on hospitals, and Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced further restrictions Tuesday night.
“It’s not going too bad but certainly not good enough. The infection numbers have to go down quicker,” Rutte said as he explained that the government was closing cinemas, theaters, swimming pools and museums for two weeks.
He warned that some regions could be placed under curfews if infection rates do not drop, and warned residents of the Netherlands not to travel abroad until midJanuary.
In Britain, the government plans to offer regular COVID-19 testing to anyone living or working in Liverpool, a city of 500,000.
“These more advanced tests will help identify infectious individuals who are not displaying symptomsso they can self-isolate and prevent the virus from spreading,” the Department of Health said.
The trial in Liverpool, which has one of the highest infection rates in England with more than 410 cases per 100,000 people, is seen as a test of how Britain might roll out mass testing nationwide.
Germany said it is bulkbuying millions of antigen tests, which produce rapid results, to avoid banning visitors to nursing homes and preventing the anguish to residents and their relatives that such isolation caused in the spring. Nursing homes will receive up to 20 free monthly tests per resident, which can be used to test patients, staff members and visitors who might be unwitting virus carriers.
In neighboring Austria, new restrictions that took effect Tuesday allow restaurants and bars to operate only for deliveries and takeout until the end of the month, and cancel cultural, sports and leisure activities.