The World Health Organization has warned that Europe’s intensive care unit could achieve maximum efficiency in a few weeks of coronavirus cases.
France is imposing curfews in Paris and other major cities in the evening to prevent disease, the Czech Republic is closing schools and building a field hospital, and Poland is restricting restaurant time and closing gyms and schools.
In Belgium, new infections are doubling every week, and in Brussels, 20% of tests are returning positive. Health authorities say a maximum of 2,000 ICU beds will be filled by mid-November.
Five weeks after the reopening, Belgian universities will switch to online education from Monday.
A cook ties a pot during a protest against new restrictions in Barcelona
The French health ministry filed another 25,086 daily cases on Friday, following a record figure of 30,621 on Thursday. It said 122 people had died.
The country is deploying an additional 12,000 police to enforce the new curfew. Starting from Saturday.
In Greece, the number of daily cases rose from 500 to 508 for the first time on Friday, including 227 in the Athens metropolitan area.
King William-Alexander of the Netherlands has been criticized by several MPs for traveling to Greece on holiday.
Although the break is not against the rules, Just Sneiler of the D-Party party said the king’s decision was “intelligent and understandable”, the Dutch news agency ANP reported.
One has been tested in Turin
WHO’s technical leadership COVID-19, Maria van Kerkhov said: “We know of a number of cities across Europe where ICU capacity will be reached in the coming weeks.”
But he added that better treatment and increased testing capacity meant countries could be in a better position than they were a few months ago.
Vincenzo de Luca, president of the Campania region in Italy, said he would impose a curfew on October 31 to stop the spread of the virus at “stupid” Halloween parties.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conti has canceled another national lockdown, but the Lombardy leader has said he will revise the opening hours for bars, restaurants and nearby gaming centers and bingo halls.
Intr is introducing curfew in French cities at 9 pm
In Barcelona, a thousand hospitality workers, playing on pots and pans, protested against a 15-day shutdown and
Restaurants ordered by the Catalan regional government.
One protester, restaurant owner David Polo, said: “Even after enduring us in the past months, this is actually the ultimate massacre.”
In Malta, passengers were barred from disembarking from an MSc Grandiosa cruise ship in a suspected coronavirus case.
