European government is in a plan to impose stricter lockdowns to halt the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
The World Health Organization on Sunday warned the situation of Europe as very serious since the cases are surging at an alarming rate.
As the numbers are spiking up, Europe has started to impose lockdowns and is planning to weigh up more lockdowns to stop the continent from facing a second wave.
WHO Regional Director, Hans Kluge said that the situation in Europe comes as a warning about what is yet to come.
Last week, Europe’s weekly count of the number of COVID cases has crossed 3,00,000 for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
More than half of the European nations have reported a spike of at least 10 percent in new cases in the past two weeks. Seven countries in the continent are reporting more than two-fold cases since the last two weeks when compared to the previous times.
In spring and early summer, Europe has witnessed the impact of strict lockdowns and in June, several nations have seen a new low in the number of cases. However, the September surge in the cases is an alarm in disguise.
Though these numbers could be an impact of increased testing, it also shows that the transmission is also soaring.
In the first week of September, there were increased cases among the age group of 50 to 79 and in recent weeks more infections are being reported in the age group of 25 to 49 years.
Several countries across the continent have reopened their economies but the governments are now scrambling to halt the further transmission.
New Restrictions all over
COVID-19 hospitalizations have increased recently across France in cities like Paris, Bordeaux and Marseille.
According to John Hopkins University, more than 31,000 people have died and more than 443,000 cases have been reported in France.
The numbers are rising these days. Over the weekend, France has been reporting 10,000 cases per day and the number of people in Intensive Care has risen by 25 percent.
Cases in the UK, Germany, and Spain have also increased and England has started imposing new restrictions where not more than 6 people can meet at a time either indoors or outdoors.
Scotland and Wales have also tightened their rules and implementing stringent social distancing.
The UK government has come under tremendous pressure over failures in the testing system with the health workers not being able to access the testing facilities.
Germany has also started testing more number of people and is imposing strict social distancing rules.
Spain has recorded a total of 6,00,000 cases with more than 30,000 deaths since the start. Madrid accounts for one-third of all the new coronavirus cases.
Countries like Greece and Croatia are seeing major spikes in the cases as the counties have opened tourism and people have taken summer vacations in August.
The countries are now bouncing back to cutting off the vacations and imposing lockdowns.
By Gayatri Yellayi
