Austria and Greece yesterday became the latest European nations to impose spirit-crushing curbs to combat a COVID-19 surge, with a deadly terrorist attack in Vienna ahead of a partial lockdown compounding the misery.
The virus has infected more than 46.9 million people worldwide, with more than 1.21 million deaths, and the acute outbreaks in Europe and the US are sparking further alarm about the state of the already devastated global economy.
Austria’s cases in recent weeks have surged well past the levels recorded in the spring, forcing the government to impose a curfew between 8pm and 6am until the end of this month.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz had announced the measures on Saturday, describing them as “dramatic interventions in our social life.”
No meetings are allowed between people from more than two households, and there are limited curfew exceptions for care responsibilities and essential work travel. Universities and high schools moved to distance learning, but kindergartens and other schools remain open.
Just hours before the start of the lockdown, with people enjoying a final night of relative freedom, gunmen opened fire at multiple locations across central Vienna, killing at least two people.
A two-week lockdown also came into also come into force in Greece’s second-biggest city, Thessaloniki, with flights suspended and everything closed except schools. The restrictions follow localized lockdowns in the regions of Kozani and Kastoria earlier this month.
To curb the spike in Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, Chancellor Angela Merkel appealed to citizens to help achieve a “turnaround” by respecting a new round of shutdowns from Monday until the end of the month.
Much of Portugal also faces a lockdown from today, while France, having imposed its second shutdown last week, is also preparing to further tighten restrictions. England is to begin a new nationwide lockdown tomorrow, bringing it into line with other parts of the UK and Europe.
The frustration over the economic and social cost of lockdowns has led to protests in many parts of the world, especially Europe, with some leading to violent skirmishes, notably in Spain and Italy, as well as the Czech capital, Prague, and the eastern German city of Dresden.
In Paris, French Minister of Solidarity and Health Olivier Veran yesterday said that one Parisian is getting infected with COVID-19 every 30 seconds, while every 15 minutes there is a Parisian arriving in hospital as a result of the disease.
Veran made the comments to RTL Radio in response to demands by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo to open up small bookshops and other smaller stores to try to keep commerce and social activity ticking despite a new lockdown in France.
Veran said any such move was too risky given the high COVID-19 infection rates in the French capital.
In Asia, the Philippine Department of Health yesterday recorded 1,772 new COVID-19 infections and 49 more deaths. That brought total confirmed cases to 387,161, while deaths have reached 7,318.
The Philippines has the second-highest number of infections and deaths in Southeast Asia after Indonesia, which yesterday reported 2,973 new cases, taking the total number of infections to 418,375, Ministry of Health data showed.
It also reported 102 additional deaths, taking the total number of fatalities to 14,146.
The Indonesia Medical Association said earlier yesteday that 161 doctors, including nine dentists, had died from the virus from March to last month.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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