⁍ France has surged above 36,000 new cases a day.
⁍ Germany, which was less hard-hit than its European neighbours early this year, has seen an exponential rise in cases.
⁍ In the United States, a new wave of infections has been setting records with six days to go until Election Day.
– “We are all in the same position: overrun by a second wave which we know will be harder, more deadly than the first,” French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday, ordering France and Germany to return to a lockdown against coronavirus. “I have decided that we need to return to the lockdown which stopped the virus.” Under the lockdown, people will be required to stay in their homes except to buy essential goods, seek medical attention, or exercise for up to one hour a day, Reuters reports. They will also be permitted to go to work if their employer deems it impossible for them to do the job from home. Schools will stay open. Germany will shut bars, restaurants, and theaters from Nov. 2-30 under measures agreed between Merkel and heads of regional governments. “We need to take action now,” Merkel said. “Our health system can still cope with this challenge today, but at this speed of infections it will reach the limits of its capacity within weeks.” Her finance minister, Olaf Scholz, posted on Twitter: “November will be a month of truth. The increasing numbers of infections are forcing us to take tough countermeasures in order to break the second wave.” The WHO reported Europe reported 1.3 million new cases in the past seven days, nearly half the 2.9 million reported worldwide. So far, more than 42 million cases and more than 1.1 million deaths have been recorded worldwide from the virus, which was first identified in the central Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of last year.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/healthcoronavirus/wrapup-5-france-and-germany-plunge-back-into-lockdown-as-second-covid-19-wave-sweeps-europe-idUSL1N2HJ0QL