Belgium raises prospect of ‘complete lockdown’ as
Spain and France report spikes in infection rate
Sam Jones
in Madrid, Kim Willsher in Paris, Daniel Boffey in Brussels and Kate Connolly
in Berlin
Mon 27 Jul
2020 17.02 BSTFirst published on Mon 27 Jul 2020 15.04 BST
Europe is
bracing for a second wave of coronavirus as continuing outbreaks raise the
prospect of reimposed restrictions at a time when millions of people are
travelling across the continent for their summer holidays.
The Belgian
government has warned that country could be put into a second “complete
lockdown” following a significant spike in infections, while the Spanish region
of Catalonia may also have to reintroduce lockdown measures if outbreaks are
not brought under control within 10 days.
In France,
the health minister has called for greater vigilance after a sharp rise in
Covid-19 cases in young people, and Germany’s public health advisory body has
said it is “deeply concerned” about the rise in cases over the past few weeks.
On Monday,
Belgium’s prime minister, Sophie Wilmès, announced a series of further
restrictive measures but said a second lockdown may be inevitable.
“If we
cannot reduce the coronavirus, it will be a collective failure,” Wilmès said at
a press conference following a meeting of the country’s national security
council.
“Experts
say it is possible to avoid another lockdown. But it must be remembered that
the world’s leading scientists are incapable of knowing how the situation will
develop. We must not frighten people, but neither should we abuse them by
pretending to know everything.”
There was a
71% increase in the seven-day average number of infections in Belgium between
17 July and 23 July in Belgium, up from 163 new cases a day to 279. At the
height of the pandemic in April, Belgium had more than 1,000 cases a day.
The prime
minister said the start of the school year could be undermined without a
drastic intervention and said she “very strongly recommended” the return of
home working for those who are able to do so. For four weeks from Wednesday,
each household may only have social contact with a further five people.
People must
go shopping alone and they will need to restrict themselves to 30 minutes in a
shop.
Group
outings will be limited to 10 people, except for children of 12 and older. The
city of Antwerp will also take extra measures in an attempt to reduce the
spread of the disease following a 500% week-on-week rise in infections.
On Monday,
the regional president of Catalonia – one of the areas of Spain hardest hit by
the virus’s resurgence – said the situation was similar to that before the
national lockdown was introduced in March.
“We’re in
the 10 most important days of the summer and during that time, we’ll see
whether we’re capable of sorting out the situation through solidarity,
cooperation and a collective effort,” said Quim Torra.
“But the
situation is critical and if we don’t manage to, then we will have to go
backwards.”
Nearly 8,000
cases have been diagnosed in Catalonia over the past 14 days – accounting for
almost half of the 16,410 detected across Spain. In the neighbouring region of
Aragón, where there has also been a rise in infections, 738 new cases were
recorded on Friday and Saturday.
Many
outbreaks have originated in bars and clubs, but other clusters have been
traced to seasonal fruit and vegetable pickers, whose poor living and working
conditions often make social distancing difficult.
Last week,
Spanish health authorities acknowledged the country may already be experiencing
a second wave of infections following the lifting of the strict, three-month
lockdown at the end of June.
On Monday,
the Spanish health ministry reported 855 new Covid cases over the past 24 hours
– 474 of them in Aragón – down from 922 last Friday and 971 the day before
that.
Figures
showed 6,361 cases were recorded over the weekend, bringing Spain’s cumulative
total to 278,782.
When the
pandemic was at its peak on 31 March, Spain had 9,222 new infections in a
single day. According to the ministry, six people have died from the
coronavirus in Spain over the past seven days.
The Catalan
government has ordered all nightclubs to close for a fortnight and placed a
midnight curfew on bars in and around Barcelona and Lleida, both of which have
reported a rise in the number of new cases. It has also advised people in
Barcelona to stay at home, but the advice has been ignored as many people flock
to beaches.
Faced with
the closures and curfews, some young people have taken to holding botellones,
or drinking parties, in the streets. Torra called for an end to such behaviour,
saying: “Today, a botellón isn’t a party; it shows a lack of solidarity.”
The message
was echoed by the French health minister, who urged youngsters to be vigilant
and maintain coronavirus safety measures including keeping their distance,
washing hands and wearing masks.
“When we
carry out mass testing we are seeing a lot of young patients … more youngsters
than during the previous wave,” Olivier Véran said at the weekend.
“This is
particularly the case in the Île-de-France [Paris] region where we are seeing
young people who are infected without knowing how it happened. Clearly, older
people are still being very careful, while young people are paying less
attention.”
Jérôme
Marty, the president of a French GPs’ union, said the summer holidays would be
a crucial point in the coronavirus crisis. “There’s everything at risk in the
next three weeks because we’re entering the dangerous period,” he told Europe 1
radio.
“This is
the time when there’s the most movement and concentration of population. There
are areas where there are normally 10,000 inhabitants and suddenly there are
60,000 or 80,000. From one day to the next it can tip to a corresponding rise
in the number of hospital admissions.”
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Fear is
growing in Germany of a second coronavirus wave, with some experts saying the
country is on the cusp of it, others saying it has already begun, and some
referring to a “permanent wave” that will last until a vaccine arrives.
Outbreaks
in urban areas and among holidaymakers and abattoir and harvest workers have
demonstrated how quickly the virus can flare up, placing whole regions at risk
of being put under lockdown conditions once again.
The
country’s public health advisory body, the Robert Koch Institute, has said it
is “deeply concerned” about the rise in cases over recent weeks. The new number
of new cases climbed past 800 on Friday after several weeks of hovering between
300 and 400. At the pandemic’s height, Germany saw over 6,000 cases a day.
The health
minister, Jens Spahn, has warned that partying holidaymakers on Mallorca or
Ibiza are in danger of forgetting rules such as physical distancing and
hand-washing, contributing to the threat of a second wave. He announced he is
planning to introduce obligatory testing for travellers returning from areas
considered high risk because of their level of coronavirus cases.
Michael
Kretschmar, the leader of the eastern state of Saxony, has said he believes
“the second coronavirus wave is already there”, telling the Rheinischen Post:
“On a daily basis we’re dealing with new infection herds which can quickly
produce very high numbers.”
But Gerd
Antes, a medical statistician in the southern city of Freiburg, said the
concept of the “second wave” created a false impression and that it was more
likely the virus would continue to rise and ebb. The challenge, he added, was
be to extinguish the “hot spots” or risk seeing them grow into one large
wildfire.
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