Europe tightens virus curbs

AS GLOBAL CASES TOP 40 MILLION

WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan blamed soaring transmission rates in the northern hemisphere on a failure to enforce quarantines rigorously

DUBLIN, Ireland (AFP) — A number of European countries took urgent new measures on Monday to combat a second wave of coronavirus infections, as the World Health Organization (WHO) blamed the surge in worldwide cases — now more than 40 million — on countries’ failure to quarantine infected people properly.

Ireland and Wales became the first countries on the continent to re-enter lockdown as the number of people who have died from COVID-19 in Europe passed 250,000, according to an AFP tally.

Irish prime minister Micheal Martin issued a nationwide “stay at home” order from midnight Wednesday, with all non-essential retail businesses to close and bars and restaurants limited to takeaway service only, although schools will remain open.

Wales also announced “firebreak” confinement measures for two weeks, ordering the territory’s three million residents to stay at home except for very limited purposes such as exercise or work, and banning people from mixing indoors or outdoors.

WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan blamed soaring transmission rates in the northern hemisphere on a failure to enforce quarantines rigorously.

Speaking to a virtual press conference from the WHO’s headquarters in Geneva, Ryan said the fact that selfisolation measures were not being enforced systematically was “a good part of the reason why we’re seeing such high numbers.”

Many governments are seeking to avoid the costly full-scale lockdowns imposed in the first wave as they battle to keep their economies going.

But in some countries, people are chafing against new restrictions on daily life, and antimask protests, court challenges and battles between central and local governments are on the rise.

Belgium — where hospitalizations rose 100 percent in just the last week — closed bars and restaurants on Monday for a month and reinforced a curfew overnight.

Italy, the initial epicenter of Europe’s outbreak, also announced fresh curbs including earlier closures for bars and restaurants and a push to increase working from home.

PAUL FAITH / AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE PEDESTRIANS look at masks for sale in Dublin amid reports that further lockdown restrictions could be imposed to help mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus. Ireland will crank up coronavirus restrictions, Prime Minister Micheal Martin said last week, announcing a raft of new curbs along the border with the British province of Northern Ireland.