Paris (AFP)
The records of daily coronavirus contamination are falling one after the other in Europe where governments are tightening restrictions, extending the curfew as in France or reconfining their populations as in Wales on Friday.
Across the continent, the number of cases exceeds 8.2 million and more than 258,000 people have died from Covid-19.
The UK and all EU countries except Finland, Cyprus, Estonia and Greece are of "grave concern", the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control said on Friday. .
The situation is particularly serious in France, where more than 41,600 new cases have been diagnosed in 24 hours, a new record.
Faced with this outbreak, the government has extended the night curfew (9:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.), which will affect from Friday midnight 46 million people in Paris and in the main cities, or two thirds of the population, for six weeks. .
Health authorities now fear a second wave "worse than the first" and have said they are considering local re-containments, trying to avoid a general re-containment.
- Hospitals facing the "tsunami" -
But already in several countries, doctors and nurses see with anguish approaching this second wave.
"We are afraid that the latest measures are insufficient to flatten the curve. We see a tsunami coming," warns the doctor at the head of a unit which welcomes 18 patients with the virus for 26 beds.
In this hospital, the lack of arms forces caregivers to work while being positive for Covid-19.
"I informed my superior. He told me + We cannot replace you, we will have to come +", says Thomas, a 33-year-old nurse.
In Portugal, where the epidemic is showing galloping figures, hospitals are also putting themselves in battle order.
On the sixth floor of the Porto hospital, reserved for the most critical cases, the nurses hidden under their masks, glasses, gowns and charlottes are busy in peace around undressed patients, connected by cables and pipes to a series of devices and flashing screens.
"We are tired, and it shows in our teams, but we are ready for this new battle," says head nurse Patricia Cardoso.
- A "digital Christmas" -
In the United Kingdom, the most bereaved country in Europe (more than 44,000 dead), Wales (more than three million inhabitants) is reconfigured from 6 p.m. Friday until November 9.
Non-essential businesses will be closed.
In England, half of the population, some 29 million inhabitants, now lives under more or less strict local restrictions.
Manchester, in the north-west, has been on maximum health alert since Friday morning.
Its 2.8 million inhabitants can no longer meet between different homes and bars and pubs not serving food are closed.
The South Yorkshire region will suffer the same fate overnight from Friday to Saturday.
In Scotland, health authorities have advised people to prepare for a "digital Christmas", which will by no means be "normal".
- Spain: 3 million cases -
Ireland, on the other hand, has reconfined its entire population for six weeks since midnight Wednesday, closing non-essential businesses.
But the schools remained open.
In Italy, Lazio, the region of Rome, becomes the third in the country, along with Lombardy and Campania, to establish a curfew.
In Spain, which has officially passed the milestone of one million cases of coronavirus, the head of government Pedro Sanchez estimated on Friday that the real number "exceeds three million".
Shortly before, several regions had announced further tightening of restrictions, calling on the central government to impose the night curfew, as in Belgium or France.
Greece's two main cities, Athens and Thessaloniki, will also be subject to a nighttime curfew from Saturday.
The situation is also worsening in Eastern Europe.
"All of Poland will be in the red zone" on Saturday, with partial closure of schools and restaurants, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Friday.
Since Thursday evening, the Czech Republic, where the rate of contaminations and deaths is the worst in Europe over the last two weeks, has established partial containment until November 3.
Health Minister Roman Prymula was caught walking out of a restaurant which his own administration said should have been closed without wearing the mandatory mask.
The pandemic has killed at least 1,139,406 people around the world since the end of December, according to a report established by AFP on Friday.
The United States is the most bereaved country with 223,059 dead, followed by Brazil (155,900 dead), India (117,306), Mexico (87,894) and the United Kingdom (44,347).
In South America, once the epicenter of the pandemic, the situation seems to be slowly improving in places.
Peru, the most bereaved country in the world in relation to its population (nearly 34,000 dead for 32 million inhabitants) recorded for the first time in six months less than 50 deaths daily on Thursday.
© 2020 AFP