Europe gripped by second wave as coronavirus cases rise sharply

(Update 1: Offers fresh information for Czech Republic, France and UK)

Madrid Desk, Oct 8 (efe-epa).- Several countries in Europe are in the midst of a second wave of coronavirus infections, as case numbers soar across the continent to higher levels than at the start of the pandemic.

GERMANY

Daily infections in Germany spiked to more than 4,000 in the last 24 hours, the highest figure since mid-April, the country’s disease control center, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), said Thursday.

RKI reported 4,058 cases in the last 24 hours, compared to 2,828 the previous day. The number of cases has been steadily rising since the start of September, Wieler said, adding that the number had doubled in the past week. “That worries me very much,” he said.

“It is possible that we will see more than 10,000 cases a day and that the virus will spread uncontrollably,” RKI president Lothar Wieler told a press conference he held with health minister Jens Spahn, who called the situation “very concerning.”

Despite the worrying trend, Spahn insisted that there would not be another lockdown.

“We will not get into the April situation because we know more,” the health minister said, although he urged people to continue following health rules and guidelines as infections rise, particularly among younger people.

“Younger ones especially are now infected because they want to travel, because they want to celebrate parties and consider themselves immune,” Spahn said, who called on people not to “gamble away what we have achieved”.

There have been more than 310,100 confirmed cases since the start of the outbreak and 9,578 deaths, including 16 recorded in the past day.