The empty courtyard of the Louvre Museum today in Paris, France. Photo / AP
France will impose a nightly curfew on almost one third of the population to combat spiking coronavirus cases.
President Emmanuel Macron said a new national lockdown is not envisaged.
The curfews will take effect from Saturday and run from 9pm to 6am local time.
Macron said curfews would be imposed in the greater Paris region, Marseille, Toulouse, Montpellier and five other cities.
France will also restore a state of health emergency that expired three months ago.
The move will allow the Government to enforce stricter measures in the future, either locally or nationally.
France initially declared a state of health emergency in March, paving the way for the Government to require citizens to stay home in lockdown.
France's Government has already put Paris, seven other cities and the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe under maximum virus alert, closing bars, banning student parties and capping the size of gatherings.
Officials from the world's richest countries have agreed to give the poorest nations more time to pay off their debts. https://t.co/ESAvTPYPV5
— DW News (@dwnews) October 14, 2020
Bar and other business owners have organised numerous protests in response, saying they won't survive the consequences of the crisis.
But with hospitalisations still rising, authorities are discussing tougher measures, including a possible overnight curfew in areas where infections are spreading fast. The Government is seeking volunteers to pitch in at hospitals.
Patients with Covid-19 occupy a third of intensive care units nationwide. France reported about 180 positive cases per 100,000 people during the last week and higher concentrations in some cities.
France has 798,000 confirmed cases and nearly 33,000 deaths.
Dutch bars are fairly busy with less than an hour and a half to go before they close for ‘partial lockdown’ to curb a surge in coronavirus cases. Filming in The Hague by the intrepid @AFPJanHennop pic.twitter.com/8W9DihZK4m
— Danny Kemp (@dannyctkemp) October 14, 2020
SPAIN
Spain has become the first European Union nation to reach 900,000 infections after adding more than 11,000 confirmed cases.
Spain's Health Ministry say it has confirmed 908,056 infections since the beginning of the pandemic, which is seventh in the world.
France is next in the EU, although the exact number of cases in each country depends on the amount of testing.
More than 5000 new cases were diagnosed in Spain between yesterday and today, the ministry says.
Spanish authorities have confirmed 33,413 deaths from Covid-19, ranking eighth in the world. Health experts believe the actual number is much higher because of a lack of testing.
Since the coronavirus pandemic, concerns about the deficit have hit lows with voters. @DataProgress polling shows that even when voters read Republican deficit messages, they support expansive economic relief and investment. https://t.co/ptOjNSlTkY
— sean (@SeanMcElwee) October 14, 2020
SWITZERLAND
Authorities in Switzerland are reporting a new daily record of 2823 confirmed coronavirus cases, with young adults as the most affected demographic.
The Federal Office of Public Health says that brings the total to 68,704 confirmed cases. It recorded eight new deaths for a confirmed total of 1816.
At a peak between late March and mid-April, Switzerland was recording more than 40 Covid-related deaths per day.
The age group 20-29 has tallied most of the new cases, while older groups were generally more affected in the early phases of the pandemic.
European Union countries approve a series of guidelines including a “traffic-light” system aimed at facilitating free movement across the bloc and avoiding further travel disruption during the coronavirus pandemic. https://t.co/BFx5XnKuqQ
— ABC News (@ABC) October 14, 2020
RUSSIA
Russian authorities have reported a record 14,000 new coronavirus cases, the latest daily spike in infections.
Russia, which has the world's fourth-largest confirmed coronavirus caseload of more than 1.3 million, has been reporting over 10,000 new cases for 11 straight days, The 14,231 new infections today is the highest number since the beginning of the pandemic.
Most of the virus restrictions in the county have been lifted over the summer. Despite the rapid resurgence of the outbreak, Russian authorities have dismissed suggestions of a second national lockdown.
In Moscow, which has been reporting over 4,000 new cases every day since Saturday, officials recommended that the elderly to self-isolate at home and ordered employers to have 30 per cent of their staff work from home. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin also extended school holidays by one week.
Sobyanin said school students from 6th to 11th grades will shift to online studies for two weeks beginning Monday. Pupils in 1st to 5th grades will continue attending schools as usual.
- AP