Precautions plea as outbreaks surge in India,

ASIAN and European officials have pleaded with their citizens to respect modest precautions as coronavirus outbreaks accelerate in several countries.

Following two nights of anti-lockdown protests in Serbia, authorities banned mass gatherings in the capital, Belgrade, amid a rise in confirmed Covid-19 cases.

Officials elsewhere in Europe warned of the risk of new flare-ups due to lax social distancing, while authorities in Tokyo and Hong Kong reviewed nightclubs, restaurants and other public gathering spots as a source of their latest cases.

Serbia has emerged as a new focus of concern and unrest in Europe.

Yesterday, authorities banned gatherings of more than 10 people in Belgrade in what they said is an effort to prevent the further spread of the virus.

They also ordered shorter working hours for businesses such as cafes and shops.

“The health system in Belgrade is close to breaking up,” Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said.

“That is why I can’t understand what we saw last night and the night before.

“It will cost us, there is no doubt,” Ms Brnabic said, referring to the possible spread of the virus after large protests that featured little social distancing or mask-wearing.

Serbia, which has a population of about 6.9 million, has confirmed more than 17,000 cases of coronavirus, including 341 deaths.

A few hundred new infections are being reported daily.

Critics accuse President Aleksandar Vucic of letting the crisis spin out of control by lifting an earlier lockdown to allow for an election last month that tightened his grip on power.

Mr Vucic’s announcement this week that new measures would include a lockdown sent thousands into the streets, and rock-throwing demonstrators fought running battles with special police forces.

The new government measures do not include the originally planned weekend curfew, but effectively ban further protests.

Flare-ups of new virus cases are causing concern in several other parts of the world, and in some cases leading to the reintroduction of restrictions on public activity.

In France and Greece, officials warned people are too frequently ignoring safety guidance.

The French government’s leading coronavirus adviser, Jean-Francois Delfraissy, lamented that “the French in general have abandoned protective measures”.

“Everyone must understand that we are at the mercy of a return [of the virus] in France,” he said.

“It suffices to have one superspreader in a gathering and it will take off again.”

Greek government spokesman Stelios Petsas said authorities are “determined to protect the majority from the frivolous few”.

He said the government may announce new restrictions, if needed, on Monday.

Petsas said authorities were focused on the rising number of cases in nearby Balkan countries and tourists who travelled to Greece over the land border with Bulgaria.

Infections mounted at speed in the countries with the world’s highest confirmed caseloads – the US, India and Brazil.

Among them, the three account for the majority of new cases worldwide reported daily.

India reported 25,000 new cases yesterday.