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Almost deserted space in front of the Milan Cathedral: Strict measures apply in many European countries, but the number of cases is increasing
Photo: Claudio Furlan / dpa
The number of confirmed coronavirus infections in the EU and its most important European partner countries has doubled to more than ten million in just three and a half weeks.
As of Friday, a total of 10,124,110 cases had been reported in the European Economic Area including Great Britain, according to an overview by the EU health authority ECDC.
It was only on October 20 that the mark of five million detected infections was exceeded.
Most infections since the beginning of the pandemic have been registered in France (1,898,710).
Spain (1,437,220), Great Britain (1,290,195) and Italy (1,066,401) also have seven-digit values.
Germany follows in fifth place with more than 750,000 cases.
Even more informative than these absolute figures, however, are values that also take the number of inhabitants into account.
Accordingly, Belgium, among others, is particularly affected, where 520,297 cases have been reported with just under seven million inhabitants.
In addition to the 27 EU countries, the European Economic Area also includes Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
The ECDC also includes the former EU member Great Britain in its calculation.
However, Switzerland is not taken into account with its around 250,000 confirmed corona cases.
This is the situation in selected neighboring countries:
In
France
, a new Covid-19 patient is currently hospitalized every 30 seconds.
Every three minutes, a new infected person comes to the intensive care unit, Prime Minister Jean Castex reported on Thursday.
One in four deaths in the country is currently linked to Covid-19.
In view of such numbers, it would be irresponsible to lift the current corona restrictions "or even to loosen them," said Castex.
A new lockdown has been in effect in the country since the end of October.
People are only allowed on the street for a valid reason, such as shopping or going to the doctor, and they have to fill out a form that is checked by the police.
The retail trade and restaurants are closed, but schools and daycare centers are still open.
The regulations apply until December 1st.
Despite the efforts, France reported more than 33,000 new infections on Thursday, according to ECDC.
In
Spain
,
too,
strict restrictions apply in many areas.
In Catalonia with the tourist metropolis of Barcelona, for example, all bars and restaurants as well as all cinemas and theaters will be closed until November 23rd.
The region is cordoned off, all communities are cordoned off at the weekends, there is a night curfew.
At least in Madrid and the metropolitan area of the capital, the situation is easing somewhat despite relatively loose measures.
The area was the epicenter of the pandemic in Spain and Europe during the summer.
Within a few weeks, the seven-day incidence fell from well over 300 to 161 cases per 100,000 population.
In Spain, only the Canary and Balearic Islands as well as Valencia and Galicia have lower numbers than Madrid.
In
Great Britain
, more than 33,000 new corona cases were counted within one day, which is also a high since the pandemic began.
On Wednesday the number was still 22,950 new, positive corona cases.
So far, there had never been an increase of more than 10,000 cases in a day.
There have been around 242 corona cases per 100,000 inhabitants in Great Britain in the past seven days.
For comparison: In Germany the value is currently 140.
In some parts of the country, clinics are again reaching their limits, and the tracking of contact persons is not working properly.
The UK economy was also hit hard in the course of the pandemic, with the country experiencing its worst recession to date.
The food banks in Great Britain report a record number of people in need.
Italy was
one of the hardest hit countries in Europe in the first wave, pictures of overcrowded clinics and trucks carrying corpses away went around the world.
After the numbers were comparatively low in summer, the virus has been spreading rapidly there again since October.
In addition to the north, the situation during the second wave is also worrying in regions in the structurally weak south.
"We feel bad, very bad," said Claudio Zanon, director of the Valduce hospital near Lake Como in Lombardy, on Thursday.
"Unlike during the first wave, health workers are frustrated, demotivated, stressed and suffer from burn-out," he described the situation in a video conference.
"There is a broad sense of depression that is not helping the fight against the epidemic."
In Sicily, the mayor of Palermo warned against the background of rising infection numbers on Monday of an "inevitable massacre".
The video of a man who was found dead in the washroom of an emergency room in a clinic in Naples also caused considerable unrest in the country.
"In Naples and in many parts of Campania the situation is out of control," wrote Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio in response to the video on Wednesday evening on Facebook.
Due to the increasing number of cases, the government has divided all regions of the country into three categories and in some cases imposed curfews.
Austria
is one of the particularly badly affected countries in Europe
.
The government there is discussing closing schools in view of the further increase in the number of cases.
Almost two weeks ago, night curfews were introduced, and cultural and leisure facilities as well as restaurants and hotels had to close.
Nevertheless, the number of cases remained high.
On Friday, the country reported more than 10,000 new infections for the first time.
According to the EU health authority ECDC,
Finland
currently has the lowest values in Europe
.
In a
European comparison,
things are also
looking good
in
Iceland
,
Ireland
and
Norway
.
Sweden,
on the other hand, has by far the highest number of new infections in Northern Europe with its very liberal measures.
As emerged on Friday from the comparative values of the EU health authority ECDC, the number of confirmed corona cases in Sweden in the past 14 days was just under 485 per 100,000 inhabitants.
That is nine times as many cases in relation to the population as in Finland (54) and also significantly more than in Iceland (124), Norway (140) and Denmark (257).
The country is thus above Germany's figure (303), but far behind particularly badly affected EU countries.
Icon: The mirror
irb / AFP / dpa
