LIVE - Coronavirus: Europe on the verge of reconfinement

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France broke a new record Thursday evening, with more than 41,600 new cases of Covid-19 detected in 24 hours, a sign that the epidemic recovery is not weakening almost a week after the entry into force of a curfew , which will be extended Saturday evening to 38 new departments.

Ireland and Wales are once again confined, while Germany is experiencing an unprecedented wave of new contaminations: the situation is "serious" in Europe, the new epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic, governments warn.

Follow the situation live:

Information to remember:

• From Friday evening the curfew will be extended in France to 38 new departments, or two-thirds of French people affected by this measure

• A new version of the "Stop Covid" application is now available

• Europe is set to become the new epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic

46 million French people soon subject to curfew

Two-thirds of the French will soon be subject to a curfew.

Thursday, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced the extension of this measure on Saturday to 38 new departments and Polynesia to cope with an "extremely high" circulation of the virus.

Thursday, 41,622 new cases of Covid-19 were detected, or 15,000 more than the day before.

A record since the launch of large-scale tests, against a background of marked deterioration in indicators.

In this context, the head of government warned earlier that if the epidemic was not contained, the government should "consider much harsher measures", while several countries, such as Ireland, have just decided on re-containments facing the second wave.

"There is still time to avoid it, but we don't have much time left," he added.

In total, 54 departments and 46 million inhabitants will be subject to a night curfew which, for the new territories, will come into force on Friday night, at midnight, said Jean Castex during a press conference at your anxious.

It "will apply from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. throughout the territory of the departments concerned and, normally, for a period of six weeks", continued the Prime Minister, describing rules which "will be the same as for the metropolises already placed in curfew since last Saturday ", in this case Île-de-France, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Rouen, Grenoble, Saint-Etienne, Montpellier and Toulouse.

The list of 54 departments under curfew

The 38 additional departments (+ an overseas territory): Ain, Alpes-Maritimes, Ardèche, Ardennes, Ariège, Aube, Aveyron, Bas-Rhin, Calvados, South Corsica, Côte d'Or, Drôme, Gard, Haute-Corse, Haute-Loire, Haute-Savoie, Haute-Vienne, Hautes-Alpes, Hautes-Pyrénées, Ille-et-Vilaine, Indre-et-Loire, Jura, Loiret, Lozère, Maine-et-Loire, Marne, Meurthe-et-Moselle, Oise, Pas-de-Calais, Puy-de-Dôme, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Pyrénées-Orientales, Saône-et-Loire, Savoie, Tarn, Tarn-et-Garonne, Var, Vaucluse, Polynesia.

The 16 departments where the curfew is extended: Paris, Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-de-Marne, Essonne, Yvelines, Val-d'Oise, Seine-et-Marne, Isère, Nord , Rhône, Seine-Maritime, Bouches-du-Rhône, Hérault, Loire, Haute-Garonne.

A new virus tracking application

During this press conference, the new version of the virus "tracing" application, renamed "Tous anti-Covid", was also presented by the Secretary of State in charge of Digital, Cédric O. " 'have downloaded ", assured the Prime Minister, who had been caught in default a few weeks ago when he admitted not having installed on his phone the first version," Stop Covid ", which had also not has proven its effectiveness.

"Its first functions will be enhanced every two weeks," said Cédric O, in particular with the integration of the exit certificate or restaurant registration registers.

But in the evening, the download of the application encountered difficulties: "#TousAntiCovid is probably the victim of very (too) many simultaneous activation attempts. We are in the process of solving the problem. The mobilization continues", wrote Cédric O in a Tweet.

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Additional funds for performing arts and cinema

The measures to support the economy will be extended to all the departments concerned.

Aid to businesses affected by the curfew and the new restrictions will cost between 1.3 and 1.5 billion euros per month.

Present at the press conference, the Minister of Culture Roselyne Bachelot announced that the actors of the performing arts and the cinema would respectively receive 85 million and 30 million euros in additional aid to get through the health crisis.

Reconfinements in Ireland, Wales and the Czech Republic

Europe exceeded eight million cases and 256,000 deaths on Thursday, according to an AFP report.

Hailed for its good management of the first epidemic wave in the spring, Germany (nearly 9,900 dead) recorded nearly 11,300 new cases in 24 hours, a record.

"The situation has become very serious overall," said Lothar Wieler, president of the Robert Koch Institute for Public Health Surveillance (RKI) on Thursday, while Health Minister Jens Spahn is infected.

The authorities have issued assembly bans, a southern Alpine canton is almost confined and the mask compulsory in certain streets of Berlin.        

In Ireland, to hope to "celebrate Christmas properly", according to Prime Minister Micheal Martin, the toughest measures in Europe came into force on Wednesday at midnight: the entire population is re-confined for six weeks, non-essential shops closed, but schools will remain open.

Dublin, the Irish capital, had taken on the appearance of a ghost town on Thursday.

Wales will in turn be confined on Friday for two weeks.

In the rest of the United Kingdom, the most bereaved country in Europe (44,158 dead), more or less severe restrictions affect 28 million English people, including London, and pubs and restaurants are closed in Northern Ireland.    

The Czech Republic, which has by far the highest number of new cases and deaths per 100,000 inhabitants over the last two weeks, sets up partial containment on Thursday until November 3: travel restrictions and contacts, closures of all stores and non-essential services.

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Multiplication of curfews

In neighboring Slovakia, where contamination is also on the rise, the Prime Minister announced on Thursday the establishment of a partial curfew from 1 to 5 a.m. from Saturday.

During the day, travel will be restricted to certain special cases.

Belgium has opted for a night-time curfew and the closure of cafes and restaurants for a month, the authorities speaking of a situation "much worse" than in the spring.

Foreign Minister Sophie Wilmès is in intensive care.

In northern Italy, Lombardy, economic lung and the most affected region of the country, imposes a night curfew from Thursday for three weeks.

Campania, in the south, will follow on Friday.

Greece's two main cities, Athens and Thessaloniki, will also be subject to a nighttime curfew from Saturday.    

Spain particularly affected

The situation also continues to worsen in Spain (34,366 dead), which has become the first EU country, and the sixth in the world, to exceed one million cases of coronavirus.

The Spanish authorities urgently imposed new restrictions, with the partial closure of a dozen new cities, including Zaragoza, and certain regions.

Other European countries on Thursday broke contamination records: Denmark (+760 new cases, for 6.8 million inhabitants), Croatia (+1.563), whose government is concerned about a large number of " micro-foyers ”, or even Bosnia (+999).

A record of contaminations also in Portugal where three northern municipalities, or 150,000 people, will have to completely reconfigure themselves on Friday, and travel between municipalities will be banned throughout the country for the feast of All Saints, from October 30 to November 3.

More than 1.13 million deaths worldwide

The pandemic has killed at least 1.13 million people worldwide since the end of December, according to an assessment established by AFP from official sources on Thursday.

More than 41.3 million cases of contamination have been diagnosed, of which nearly 28.3 million are now considered cured.

The United States is the most bereaved country with 222,965 dead, followed by Brazil (155,900 dead), India (116,616), Mexico (87,415) and the United Kingdom (44,158).