Europe And US Pass Virus Milestones As France Locks Down

(@FahadShabbir)

Europe and US pass virus milestones as France locks down

Paris, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 31st Oct, 2020 ) :Europe passed 10 million coronavirus infections, the United States topped nine million and France entered a new lockdown on Friday as the resurgent pandemic increasingly forced other countries to consider following suit.

Belgium became the latest European country to tighten restrictions as virus numbers skyrocket across the continent, which recorded 41 percent more cases this week than the previous seven days, according to an AFP tally.

Europe is now recording 241,000 new cases a day -- compared to 15,000 at the start of July -- and represented roughly half of last week's global infections.

Some 14 European countries meanwhile registered a record number of hospitalisations linked to the virus this week.

The virus is also surging in the United States, which registered a daily record of 91,295 new cases on Thursday, passing the 90,000-mark for the first time just days before the country's presidential election.

Its total number of cases passed nine million, while 229,000 people have died of the disease in the US.

President Donald Trump continued to downplay the dangers of the virus, telling a cheering crowd at a Tampa rally that lockdowns under his Democrat rival Joe Biden would banish normal life.

"We're never going to lock down again," Trump said ahead of the November 3 vote, telling supporters his own recent bout with Covid-19 -- for which he was hospitalised -- proved it can be beaten.

Also in Tampa, Biden responded by saying: "I'm not going to shut down the economy, I'm not going to shut down the country. I'm going to shut down the virus." Italy posted its own daily infection record on Friday, fuelling debate about whether it should follow France into a national lockdown.

"Over 31,000 cases and 199 deaths. I ask you one question: what are you waiting for?" virologist Roberto Burioni tweeted.

A new US government study meanwhile found that people infected with Covid-19 infect around half of the members of their household, with adults only slightly more likely than children to spread the virus.