As European authorities battle to control further waves of the pandemic, Covid-19 infections are rising across the continent. Here are the latest developments:
France: French health authorities are warning of a strong increase in coronavirus circulation, specifically among young adults. On Monday, its health ministry said 3.6% of tests for Covid-19 came back positive in the week of August 15-21, compared to 1.4% at the start of the summer.
France has recorded 244,854 cases and 30,528 deaths, including 1,955 cases and 15 deaths in the past 24 hours, Monday figures showed.
Meanwhile, nearly one-third (30%) of vacationers tested at a nudist village in southern France’s Cap d’Agde municipality have tested positive, according to local health authorities. Occitanie Regional Health Authorities conducted three days of testing last week in Cap d’Agde, a locality known for nudist beaches and resorts The two first rounds of testing found 95 people positive among 490 people tested, and additional tests are being analyzed. Authorities report 50 additional positive cases among vacationers who went through Cap d’Agde and were tested upon their return home.
Germany: A further 1,278 new cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Germany since Monday, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) revealed Tuesday, bringing the total number of cases nationwide to 234,853.
According to the RKI, the number of cases in Germany has “risen markedly” in recent weeks and demonstrates a “very concerning” trend in the national infection rate.
On Monday, Germany issued a travel warning for Paris and the Cote d’Azur region of southeastern France due to high levels of coronavirus infection. Travelers returning from these regions will be required to get a free coronavirus PCR test upon arrival in Germany and could be obligated to quarantine for 14 days, the government said.
Spain: Spain has recorded 19,382 new coronavirus cases since Friday, according to health ministry data on Monday.
Some of the 17 Spanish regions have decided to tighten safety measures as the number of infections continues to climb. Madrid’s regional government Justice Secretary, Enrique López, asked citizens on Monday to “avoid unnecessary gatherings.” Catalan President, Quim Torra, announced that Catalonia is banning gatherings of over 10 people, given that “70% of the contagions happen during social gatherings,” adding that “the next three weeks are decisive.”
UK: A potential coronavirus vaccine being jointly developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca could be put before regulators by the end of this year, the director of the Oxford Vaccine Group said Tuesday. “It is just possible that, if the cases accrue rapidly in the clinical trials, we could have that data before regulators this year, and then there would be a process that they go through in order to make a full assessment of the data,” Professor Andrew Pollard said. However, speaking to BBC Radio 4, Pollard cautioned that the process could take longer depending on how much data scientists are able to gather.
The Scottish government announced on Tuesday that students over the age of 12 will be advised to wear face coverings at school. This comes after an outbreak at a school in Dundee, which saw 22 people test positive for Covid-19.
Italy: Italy registered 953 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, according to the latest data from the Ministry of Civil Protection on Monday. In the past week the country has seen an increase of over 6,000 cases, the highest since May 11-17. It has had a total of 260,298 cases and 35,441 deaths.
Belarus: Belarus will become the first country to receive doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine being developed in Russia as part of a new agreement reached by President Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko on Monday.
According to the state-owned Belarusian Telegraph Agency (BeITA), the two leaders agreed that Belarusian citizens will participate in the third stage of Russian vaccine trials, on a voluntary basis.