Covid-19: in Europe, the pandemic continues to progress worryingly

The center of Madrid, the Spanish capital, deserted by its inhabitants, September 16, 2020. AP Photo / Manu Fernandez

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Spain is taking new measures with a movement restriction for more than 800,000 people in the Madrid area.

Gatherings are increasingly restricted in France and Great Britain.

To detect patients and isolate them, tests are needed, but laboratories are overwhelmed all over Europe.

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In France, the Minister of Health recently boasted of being able to offer one million PCR tests per week.

But the demand is such that the lines in front of the laboratories are getting longer and you sometimes have to wait a week to get the results.

In an attempt to remedy this, the High Authority for Health (HAS) has just given the green light to another category of tests,

this time, for people with symptoms of Covid-19.

In Great Britain, we are also overwhelmed.

According to the test system manager, the demands are three to four times greater than the capacities.

Suddenly, the authorities are starting to establish priorities such as testing more in hospitals.

Germany is a good student, since the start of the crisis many tests have been carried out.

Usually the results are announced within 24 or 48 hours.

But there are failures as in Bavaria where nearly a thousand people have not received their results while some were subsequently diagnosed positive for Covid-19.

► Read also: Coronavirus: MEPs are angry against the cacophony of restrictions

Dublin re-defined

The Irish capital is not returning to the restrictions of last March, but gatherings and family reunions are limited.

This is the second re-containment in the country, after

were again restricted last month.

This is level 3 out of 5 on the scale presented this week by the government,

.

Criticized for his lack of clarity and pedagogy around the pandemic, Prime Minister Micheal Martin spoke for the first time this Friday in an audiovisual speech.

“ 

” he said

"

This Tuesday, however, Dublin had been placed on the same level of alert as the rest of the country while the rate of contamination is more than twice the national average, and that hospital and intensive care admissions are increasing.

From this Saturday therefore, on the recommendation of the medical team, Dubliners must not leave the county.

No more indoor gatherings or sports training, except for professionals, 15 participants maximum for outdoor events.

The schools, they remain open.

A measure absent from the initial protocol has been added, the closing of restaurants,

, except for take-out and terrace service.

A measure deemed disproportionate by the disaster-stricken catering sector but recommended by the medical council to stop the spread of the virus outside the identified clusters.

►

Spain: the saturated hospital system in Madrid

The region of Madrid has become more than ever that of all the dangers in Spain.

To the point that the regional authorities have asked the central power for help.

Given the worrying rise in contagion, restrictive measures have already been decided: 37 districts of the capital, which affect 13% of the population, see their movements limited to what is strictly necessary.

And the mayors of southern municipalities say they are powerless.

The concern is more than ever on hospitals, more and more beset by people contaminated by Covid-19.

, visited the Hospital Clinic San Carlos.

The traffic is chaotic, it is a permanent ballet of taxis, ambulances and private cars all along the ring road that leads to the entrance of the huge hospital overlooking the west of the capital.

In front of emergencies and other services, the comings and goings are incessant.

The worry is perceptible on the faces, visitors, caregivers, everyone.

The cause for concern is simple: in recent days, there have been more and more

in the emergency room.

Ana, who works in the rehabilitation service, echoes this: “ 

"

What Ana describes is what is observed in all the hospitals in the capital.

Namely that the beds reserved until now for other pathologies, even serious ones such as cancer or stroke, are increasingly attributed to people presenting the symptoms of Covid-19.

And the situation is even more serious in intensive care units, where now 64% of places are occupied by patients affected by the virus.

" 

says Yolanda, who works in the emergency department.

"

The great generalized fear is to return to the situation of spring, with the saturation of all hospitals, the threat of new containment and the declaration of a state of emergency.

And this even if the president of the region Isabel Diaz Ayuso has promised that everything will be done to avoid such an end.

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