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Germany has recorded nearly 20,000 new coronavirus cases in one day, its highest level yet.

The national disease control centre, the Robert Koch Institute, on Thursday said 19,990 infections had been confirmed in the past 24 hours.

That tops the previous record of 19,059 set on Saturday.

It brought the total case tally in Germany, a nation of 83 million people since the pandemic began to 597,583.

Another 118 deaths raised the total to 10,930.

People with face masks are pictured through a grid at a shopping street in the city centre of Essen, Germany (Martin Meissner/AP)

Like other European countries, Germany has seen a sharp rise in infections in recent weeks.

A four-week partial shutdown took effect on Monday, with bars, restaurants, leisure and sports facilities being closed and new contact restrictions imposed.

Shops and schools remain open.

Although Germany’s situation is alarming officials, many other European countries are in worse shape.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said on Wednesday that Germany has 237 new cases per 100,000 residents over 14 days, some seven times lower than in Belgium.

Source: https://www.irishexaminer.com/world/arid-40076453.html

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France reported 3,776 cases in the past 24 hours, its health ministry reported.

All epidemiological indicators are rising, and transmission of the virus is growing, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health said in a press release. It added that transmission is affecting “all age groups and more particularly young adults.”

Even bigger growth was seen in Spain’s cumulative number of coronavirus cases — which can include test results that were not received quickly enough to be included in the daily total, along with diagnoses made from antibody tests. With those results added, the Spanish Health Ministry reported 6,671 new cases on Wednesday.

Germany reported more than 1,500 coronavirus infections on Wednesday — a daily mark it had not hit in months, according to Germany’s infectious disease agency, the Robert Koch Institute.

“This trend is very concerning,” the agency said. It added that while outbreaks continue in nursing homes and refugee facilities, “the average age of infection has decreased over the past few weeks.”

The trend includes both residents as well as young people who are traveling to Germany. Officials also said that many small outbreaks have been traced to “larger events with family and friends.”

Germany’s 226,914 cases are the fourth-most in Europe, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

Germany, France, and Spain lifted significant parts of their national lockdowns in June – the same month the European Union began to ease travel restrictions between member nations in hopes of salvaging a summer tourism season.

Despite that early optimism, Spain began imposing or renewing social restrictions in late July, reflecting officials’ alarm at a spate of new cases there.

Spain’s increasingly strict measures – which now include a ban on outdoor smoking and drinking and an expanded face mask mandate – have sparked anger and protests as well as conspiracy theories.

Demonstrators in Spain have invoked a number of implausible culprits to explain the new rise in cases, from the use of 5G wireless technology to the wearing of masks themselves.

“We can’t live like zombies with masks on in the streets,” poet and photographer Ouka Leele told a crowd of fellow protesters over the weekend, as NPR’s Scott Neuman reported.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday that he is not considering a new lockdown.

“Macron told Paris Match magazine that ‘local strategies’ were preferable to another national lockdown,” France 24 reported, “which he said would cause considerable ‘collateral damage.’ ”

In the EU, France, Spain, and Germany are far from alone in seeing a late-summer rebound in cases: More than a dozen member nations have been seeing week-over-week gains, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

Source: https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/08/19/903967293/spain-france-and-germany-report-most-coronavirus-cases-since-their-lockdowns

The post Spain, France And Germany Report Most Coronavirus Cases Since Their Lockdowns first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Coronavirus cases are not rising dramatically outside China despite a spike in Hubei province, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.

The only exception was on a cruise liner docked in Japan, where 44 new cases were reported, bringing the total there to 218.

There was also no major shift in the coronavirus’s pattern of mortality or severity, according to the WHO.

The latest figures show 121 new deaths in China, bringing the total to 1,380.

The total infections jumped by 5,090 to 63,851 cases on 13 February, the National Health Commission said on Friday.

Health officials said six health workers were among those who had died, and that 1,716 health workers had been infected.

The fatalities include Li Wenliang, a doctor who tried to alert authorities to the virus early on but was accused by police of “spreading rumours. His death on 7 February provoked a burst of public anger and grief.

The latest figures from Hubei recorded 116 deaths and 4,823 new cases. That is a smaller increase than the previous day when there was a spike with 240 new deaths and nearly 15,000 new cases.

However, most of this was down to Hubei using a broader definition to diagnose people, said Mike Ryan, head of WHO’s health emergencies programme.

“This does not represent a significant change in the trajectory of the outbreak,” he said.

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Outside China there had been two deaths and 447 cases in 24 countries, he said.

On Thursday Japan announced its first coronavirus death – a woman in her 80s who lived in Kanagawa, south-west of Tokyo.

The woman’s diagnosis was confirmed after her death and she had no obvious link to China’s Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak, Japanese media reported.

On Thursday, the US state department said it was “deeply concerned” about the possible effect of an outbreak in North Korea, which has so far not reported any cases.

What is happening on the Diamond Princess?

The vessel is in quarantine in Yokohama. Not all the 3,700 people on board have been tested yet.

People with the virus are taken to hospitals on land to be treated, while those on board are largely confined to their cabins.

The Diamond Princess has 3,700 people on board – not all of whom have been tested – AFP

However, on Thursday Japan said it would allow those aged 80 or over who have tested negative for the coronavirus to disembark.

Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said they could be allowed off the ship as early as Friday but would have to stay in accommodation provided by the government, the Japan Times reported.

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Meanwhile, another cruise ship – the MS Westerdam – carrying more than 2,000 people docked in Cambodia after being turned away by ports in Japan, Taiwan, Guam, the Philippines, and Thailand despite having no sick patients on board.

What’s behind the Hubei spike?

Until Wednesday’s increases, the number of people with the virus in Hubei was stabilizing.

The new cases and deaths in the province have pushed the national death toll above 1,350 with almost 60,000 infections in total.

• Briton says quarantine breakers being arrested

White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow said there had been “surprise” in the US at the new cases.

“We’re a little disappointed in the lack of transparency coming from the Chinese, these numbers are jumping around,” he said.

China sacked two top officials in Hubei province hours after the new figures were revealed.

Mr. Ryan, from the WHO, said the spike reflected a change in the way cases were diagnosed and many were days or weeks old.

Only Hubei province – which accounts for more than 80% of overall Chinese infections – is using the new definition to diagnose new cases.

In other developments:

• In the UK, officials are attempting to trace the contacts of the latest person to be diagnosed with coronavirus. The woman, who flew into London Heathrow from China a few days ago, is the ninth case to be confirmed
• Australia has extended its ban on people coming from mainland China for another week, to 22 February
• China said it would stagger the return of children to school – several provinces have closed schools until the end of February
• In Vietnam, which borders China, thousands of people in villages near the capital, Hanoi, have been put under quarantine after several cases were discovered. Vietnam has now confirmed at least 16 cases
• The Red Cross has called for sanctions relief for North Korea, which would allow the aid agency to transfer funds to buy equipment. Testing kits and protective clothing are urgently needed to prepare for a possible outbreak, it says
• British rap star Stormzy has postponed the Asian leg of his tour – he had been due to play in locations including Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia in March
• A Russian woman – who was put into a coronavirus quarantine but escaped – is resisting attempts by officials to bring her back to the hospital by force. Alla Ilyina, 32, has been refusing to open the door of her St Petersburg apartment to police
  

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  Read more about the coronavirus and its impact

  SHOULD WE WORRY? Our health correspondent explains

  YOUR QUESTIONS: Can you get it more than once?

  WHAT YOU CAN DO: Do masks really help?

  UNDERSTANDING THE SPREAD: A visual guide to the outbreak

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  Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-51495484

  [Disclaimer]

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