Children arrive for the first day of school at "Colegio Aljarafe S.C.A." in Mairena del Aljarafe, near Seville, on September 10, 2020. Spain. (PHOTO / AFP)

LONDON / MADRID / PARIS / DUBLIN - European countries from Denmark to Greece announced new restrictions on Friday to curb surging coronavirus infections in some of their largest cities, while Britain was reported to be considering a new national lockdown.

Infections have climbed steadily across most of Europe over the last two months. Intensive care admissions and deaths have also begun to tick up, especially in Spain and France.

Global COVID-19 deaths

Global COVID-19 deaths surpassed 950,000 on Friday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

The global death toll from the disease reached 950,434, with a total of 30,395,579 cases worldwide as of 10:23 p.m. (0223 GMT Saturday), the CSSE data showed.

The United States remains the worst-hit nation with 6,723,305 cases and 198,509 deaths, accounting for more than 20 percent of the world's death toll.

Brazil recorded 4,495,183 cases and 135,793 deaths, just shy of the US fatalities. India reported the world's third most deaths of 84,372 and the second highest caseload of 5,214,677.

Countries with over 30,000 fatalities also include Mexico, Britain, Italy, France, Peru and Spain. 

Russia 

Russia reported 6,065 new cases of coronavirus, the most since July 19, bringing the total to 1,097,251. Moscow reported 825 cases overnight.

The death toll for the country was 144, bringing the total to 19,339.

Germany

Germany added 2,179 coronavirus cases on Friday. That marked the second day in a row that new cases exceeded 2,000, leaving infections increasing at a pace not seen since April.

Poland 

Poland had a record daily number of 1,002 new coronavirus infections on Saturday, the Health Ministry said. Until now, the country has not seen a significant uptick in cases since August, even as neighboring countries such as the Czech Republic and Ukraine are struggling to contain the pandemic.

UK

Cases in the United Kingdom almost doubled to 6,000 per day in the latest reporting week, hospital admissions rose and infection rates soared across parts of northern England and London.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was inevitable that the country would see a second wave of the coronavirus, and while he did not want another national lockdown, the government may need to introduce new restrictions.

Britain has already imposed new COVID regulations on the North West, Midlands and West Yorkshire from Tuesday.

The United Kingdom recorded 4,322 new positive cases of COVID-19 on Friday, an increase of nearly a thousand on Thursday’s tally and the highest since May 8, according to official statistics.

Spain

In Spain, which has seen more cases than any other European country, the region including the Spanish capital Madrid will limit movement between and within areas badly affected by a new surge in infections, affecting more than 850,000 people.

Regional leader Isabel Diaz Ayuso said on Friday that access to parks and public areas would be restricted, and gatherings will be limited to six, but people would not be stopped from going to work in the country’s hardest-hit region.

“We need to avoid lockdown, we need to avoid economic disaster,” Ayuso told a news conference.

Authorities in the southern French city of Nice banned gatherings of more than 10 people in public spaces and restricted bar opening hours, following fresh curbs introduced earlier this week in Marseille and Bordeaux.

France

France reported 13,215 new confirmed coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, a new record since the start of the epidemic, while the daily death toll jumped to a four-month high.

The new cases pushed the cumulative total to 428,696 as the seven-day moving average of daily new infections rose to more than 9,300, compared to a low of 272 at the end of May, two weeks after lockdown was lifted.

Epidemiologists blame the increase on a combination of faster circulation of the virus and a six-fold increase in testing since the government made it free.

The health ministry also reported that the total number of deaths from COVID-19 increased by 154 to 31,249, a four-month high and triple the levels of the past week.

Earlier, the ministry reported the toll increased by 123, but then updated that to 154.

As the infection rate increases daily, the most affected regions and cities in France have tightened regulations.

The city of Nice on the French Riviera will ban gatherings of more than 10 people in public spaces and force bars to close early after Marseille and Bordeaux introduced similar measures on Monday.

Paris, where the virus has also been circulating more quickly than elsewhere, has not banned gatherings of more than 10 people but the police prefecture said on Friday that it strongly advised against private gatherings of more than that number.

Hospital data were relatively stable on Friday, with the total number of people in hospital with COVID-19 down by 25 to 5,819 and the number of people in intensive care up by 27 to 800.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday, he said on Twitter.

Le Maire said he has no symptoms, and will continue to exercise his ministerial duties while quarantining for seven days.

Denmark

In Denmark, where the 454 new infections on Friday was close to a record of 473 in April, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the limit on public gatherings would be lowered to 50 people from 100 and ordered bars and restaurants to close early.

Iceland

Iceland ordered entertainment venues and pubs in the capital area to close for four days between September 18-21.

Netherlands

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said his government was preparing “regional” measures to combat the coronavirus outbreak after the Netherlands registered a record 1,972 cases in the past 24 hours.

The measures will be detailed later on Friday and are expected to include tighter restrictions on public gatherings and earlier closing times for bars and restaurants. Hotspots include major cities Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague.

Ireland

The Irish government on Friday announced strict new COVID-19 restrictions for the capital Dublin, banning indoor restaurant dining and advising against all non-essential travel, after a surge in cases in recent days.

Ireland, which was one of the slowest countries in Europe to emerge from lockdown, has seen average daily case numbers roughly double in the past two weeks and significant increases in those being treated for the virus in hospitals.

“Here in the capital, despite people’s best efforts over recent weeks, we are in a very dangerous place,” prime minister Micheal Martin said in a televised address to the country, announcing the restrictions.

“Without further urgent and decisive action, there is a very real threat that Dublin could return to the worst days of this crisis.”

The measures, which include a ban on indoor events, will last for three weeks, he said.

Ireland had the 17th highest COVID-19 infection rate out of 31 European countries monitored by the European Centre for Disease Control on Friday, with 57.4 cases per 100,000 people in the past 14 days.

The government reported three deaths from the virus on Friday, bringing the total toll to 1,792.

Countries across Europe, including Britain, Greece and Denmark, on Friday announced new restrictions to curb surging coronavirus infections in some of their largest cities.

Greece

Greek authorities on Friday tightened restrictions to stem the spread of the coronavirus in the greater Athens area, saying the pandemic was showing “steadily rising trends”.

Earlier, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the government stood ready to impose further COVID-19 curbs in Athens due to the surge of infections.

Effective from Monday and until Oct. 4, authorities set an upper limit of nine people in all public gatherings outdoors and suspended indoor and outdoor concerts. They also set a limit of 20 people attending funerals, weddings and baptisms.

People older than 68 were urged to curtail their movements, avoid public transport and wear masks.

Private- and public-sector employers will have to ensure that 40% of work is done from home and not in the office and apply rotating shifts.

The rise in infections in recent months has forced authorities to gradually reimpose bans including the mandatory use of masks in all closed public and private spaces.

Health authorities reported 339 new infections on Friday after 359 recorded on Thursday, with about half in the Athens metropolitan area, Attica, where about one third of the country’s population lives.

That brought the total number since the first coronavirus case was detected in February to 14,738 cases. A total of 327 people have died.

US

The Trump administration reversed guidance Friday on COVID-19 testing for a second time, urging those exposed to people with the virus to get tested even if they are not displaying symptoms.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sparked widespread outcry among state public health officials and experts in late August when it said that people who do not have symptoms may not need to get tested.

Before Aug 24, the CDC had encouraged testing for all those who were exposed. Friday’s guidance update effectively returns the CDC’s testing guidance to what it said before it was altered in late August.

Reuters reported that a majority of US states rejected the CDC’s Aug 24 guidance in an extraordinary rebuke of the nation’s top agency for disease prevention.

Some state officials last month said they thought the administration’s choice to play down the importance of testing reflected a desire by Republican President Donald Trump to cut the tally of new cases.

Trump, who is running for re-election on Nov 3, told a rally in June testing is a “double-edged” sword because it leads to more cases being discovered, causing the United States to appear worse off than it would otherwise. He added that he urged officials to “slow the testing down, please.” A White House official at the time told Reuters that the remark was a joke.

Trump administration officials denied that the move was political and told Reuters that it reflected “current evidence and best public health practices.”

Trump said his administration expects to be able to vaccinate every American against the novel coronavirus by April.

“We’ll have manufactured at least 100 million vaccine doses” by the end of the year, Trump said at a news conference on Friday. “We expect to have enough vaccines for every American by April.”

Trump’s timetable is more ambitious than those of drug industry executives and health officials including Anthony Fauci and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield, who have said most Americans shouldn’t expect a shot before mid-2021.

Military personnel from the Brazilian Armed Forces sanitizes a bus at the Santa Candida bus terminal to combat the spread of the the novel coronavirus, in Curitiba, Parana State, Brazil, on Aug 10, 2020. (PHOTO / AFP)

Brazil

Brazil added 39,797 new cases in a day, bringing the total to almost 4.5 million, according to the Health Ministry. Deaths increased by 858 to 135,793.

“Stay-at-home is for weak people,” President Jair Bolsonaro said at an event in Mato Grosso state. Meanwhile, Tourism Minister Marcelo Alvaro Antonio became the ninth member of his cabinet to be infected with Covid-19.

Argentina

Argentina’s government extended a nationwide lockdown until Oct. 11, with provincial authorities determining the specific measures, according to a video message from President Alberto Fernandez’s press office.

Guatemala

Guatemala President Alejandro Giammattei tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday night, he told local radio station Sonora on Friday morning. The Central American nation has reported 83,664 total cases of the novel coronavirus and 3,036 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Italy

Italy reported 1,907 new cases on Friday, the highest daily increase since May 1, compared with 1,585 the previous day. New deaths declined to 10 from 13 on the day.

The number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care at hospitals declined by four to 208. That compares with a peak of more than 4,000 ICU patients in early April.

Costa Rica

The Costa Rican Ministry of Health on Friday reported 1,556 new COVID-19 infections, a new peak in the country's daily COVID-19 cases.

Of all the new cases, 233 were determined through contact tracing, while 1,323 were confirmed by laboratory tests.

The country has so far reported a total of 62,374 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 623 patients remaining hospitalized, 245 in intensive care units.

On Friday, authorities also announced 20 more deaths, bringing the death toll to 686.  

Morocco

Morocco on Friday reported 2,760 new COVID-19 cases, the biggest single-day increase so far, taking the number of infections in the country since March 2 to 97,264.

The total number of recoveries from COVID-19 in Morocco increased to 76,690 after 1,760 new ones were added, the ministry of health said in a statement.

The death toll rose to 1,755 with 41 new fatalities, while 264 people are in intensive care units.

Meanwhile, the Moroccan government decided on Friday to extend the implementation of the restrictive measures in Casablanca, the worst hit city.

It also urged citizens to strictly respect social distancing, hygiene rules and the obligation to wear a mask.

The epidemiological situation linked to the coronavirus has undergone a huge surge in the North African country since August with daily cases exceeding 1,500 on average.