Paris (AFP)

Spain should pave the way on Sunday for the establishment of a curfew in several of its regions, yet another drastic measure on a European continent hard hit by the second wave of the coronavirus, which is also causing contamination records in the United States. United.

The government of Pedro Sanchez must declare a new state of alert on Sunday morning, authorizing the restrictions, the second in the country after that proclaimed in March, and which lasted until June.

On Saturday evening, at least nine Spanish regions had asked the central government to declare a state of alert, knowing that some geographic areas have already taken the lead with local restrictions, such as Madrid, Castile and Leon (north), the region of Valencia (east) and the city of Granada (south).

Two days earlier, Spain had become the first country in the European Union and the sixth in the world to exceed one million cases of Covid-19, the head of government even revealing on Friday that the real number of people infected with the coronavirus in Spain was actually over three million.

The number of deaths is close to 35,000.

- Incidents in Rome -

The curfew has already been implemented in several European countries.

In Italy, three regions have adopted it in recent days, those of Rome (Lazio), Milan (Lombardy) and Naples (Campania).

At least two other regions, Piedmont and Sicily, will follow suit during the week.

During the night from Saturday to Sunday, dozens of far-right demonstrators protesting against the curfew clashed with riot police in the historic center of the capital.

Protesters waited until a minute before midnight to set off fireworks in the colors of the Italian flag, wear balaclavas and hurl flares and firecrackers at police.

Seven protesters were arrested, and two police officers were injured, according to the daily La Repubblica.

In Naples, incidents had already erupted the previous night, when young people opposing the curfew had confronted the police, also waving signs demanding financial compensation.

Some 20,000 new cases of coronavirus have been recorded in the past 24 hours, according to the count announced by authorities on Saturday, a national record.

In total, more than 500,000 cases of infection and 37,000 deaths have been recorded in Italy, the first European country to be hit hard by the pandemic.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has said he does not want to impose a new national lockdown.

However, he could announce new restrictions on Sunday, such as reducing the opening hours of restaurants and bars and closing public gymnasiums and swimming pools.

- Brussels toughens national measures -

In Belgium, the Brussels authorities have decided to advance the curfew imposed in the country to 10 p.m., and have ordered stores to close at 8 p.m. as well as a ban on cultural and sports activities from Monday.

This new turn of the screw goes beyond the decisions taken on Friday by the government for the whole kingdom and follows the measures announced by the authorities of Wallonia, particularly affected by the pandemic.

In France, deputies voted on Saturday to extend the state of health emergency until February 16, an exceptional regime that authorizes the executive to put in place restrictions in the face of the crisis.

The curfew (9:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.), which affected 20 million people, is extended from Saturday to 46 million inhabitants of this country in total, and for six weeks.

The epidemic has already infected more than a million people.

45,422 new cases of Covid-19 were recorded there in 24 hours, a new record, and nearly 2,500 patients were hospitalized in intensive care on Saturday.

Across the European continent, the number of contaminations is approaching 8.5 million and more than 260,000 people have died from this disease.

Including some 10,003 in Germany, a country so far relatively spared but now hit hard by the epidemic rebound.

- Personalities infected in the East -

Several eastern countries, where the situation is deteriorating, impose new measures on Saturday, like Poland, whose entire territory is now in the "red zone", synonymous with many restrictions.

In neighboring Slovakia, a nighttime curfew came into effect on Saturday - it will be maintained until November 1.

And in the Czech Republic, another neighboring country, where the rate of contamination and death is the worst in Europe over the last two weeks, partial containment is already in place until November 3.

Partial containment also applies from Saturday in Slovenia, whose Foreign Minister Anze Logar has tested positive, after completing a tour in the Baltic countries.

His three counterparts in these states, who had met him, as well as the leader of the opposition in Belarus Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, placed themselves in quarantine on Saturday.

Two other politicians from Eastern Europe have announced their infection, Polish President Andrzej Duda and the mayor of Kiev, former boxer Vitali Klitschko.

The pandemic has killed at least 1,145,847 people around the world since the end of December, according to a report established by AFP on Saturday.

The United States has the heaviest tolls, with a total of 8,568,625 cases and 224,751 deaths.

The number of contaminations hit a record Saturday for the second consecutive day, with 88,973 new cases (79,963 the day before).

Former President Barack Obama accused his successor Donald Trump of having "completely messed up" in his management of Covid-19.

In the Americas, Colombia (30,000 dead) became the 8th country to cross the threshold of one million people infected, after the United States, India, Brazil, Russia, Argentina, Spain and France.

burx-ybl / cn

© 2020 AFP