Europe prepares for more pain ahead as COVID surges
Send a link to a friend
[October 26, 2020]
By James Mackenzie
MILAN (Reuters) - European leaders warned
of difficult months ahead as the resurgent COVID-19 pandemic forced
authorities to impose new restrictions to try to curb the spread of the
disease.
Word that a vaccine being developed by the University of Oxford and
AstraZeneca Plc produced immune responses in both elderly and young
people offered some positive news.
However, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock cautioned that the
vaccine would not be widely available until next year and said "we're
not there yet".
Elsewhere the picture was unrelentingly grim as a string of countries
reported record increases, led by France, which posted more than 50,000
daily cases for the first time on Sunday, while the continent passed the
threshold of 250,000 deaths.
Governments have been desperate to avoid the lockdowns which curbed the
disease at the start of the year at the cost of shutting down their
entire economies. But the steady rise in new cases has forced them to
ratchet up controls steadily.
"We are facing very, very difficult months ahead," German Chancellor
Angela Merkel told a meeting of leaders from her Christian Democrat
party, according to daily Bild.
Although Germany has fared relatively well compared to other countries
in Europe, it too has seen a sharp rise in cases and the closely watched
Ifo business climate index fell on Monday, reflecting the worries over
the virus.
The gloom around the resurgent virus weighed on financial markets, where
oil prices dropped on concerns of another slide in demand and stock
markets also fell.
[to top of second column]
|
Police officers patrol during the first day of the
night-time curfew set as part of a state of emergency in an
effort to control the outbreak of the coronavirus disease
(COVID-19), in Barcelona, Spain October 26, 2020.
REUTERS/Nacho Doce
In Spain, which has had more than 1 million cases of the disease,
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez warned the country was facing an
"extreme" situation as he announced a new state of emergency on
Sunday, imposing local nighttime curfews and banning travel between
regions in some cases.
Italy, the country worst hit in the early stages of the crisis in
March, also imposed new curbs, ordering restaurants and bars to
close from 6 p.m. and shutting down cinemas, and gyms and imposing
local curfews in several regions.
Street clashes with small groups of protestors over the weekend and
angry criticism from restaurant owners and business groups about the
impact of the measures underlined the increasingly tense climate
facing Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.
(Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|