Roundup: 2nd wave grips Europe, study reveals mental toll of lockdown

(Update: adds information from Italy, German health minister positive test)

Madrid Desk, Oct 21 (efe-epa).- The Czech Republic, which has the highest infection rate in the European Union, Italy and Poland broke their own records of daily Covid-19 cases on Wednesday as infections continued to rise across the continent.

Elsewhere in Europe, a study in the United Kingdom has revealed the toll of lockdown on people’s mental health while Germany’s health minister tested positive for the virus.

CZECH REPUBLIC

Czech health officials detected a further 11,984 Covid-19 cases in the country. There are 4,064 people receiving hospital treatment for Covid-19, some 634 of those in a serious condition, authorities added.

Having weathered the first wave of the pandemic relatively well compared to the likes of Spain and Italy, the central European nation, which has a population of around 10.6 million, has in the second wave been forced to close schools, bars, restaurants and placed limits on social gatherings.

The Czech Republic is reporting a two-week cumulative incidence rate of 905 Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people.

BELGIUM

Belgium has had an average daily infection rate of 872.2 cases per 100,000 in the last 14 days, an increase of 239 percent compared to the previous two weeks.

“Throughout the country it continues to increase, it was inevitable. It is something that could not be stopped so quickly,”  Yves Van Laethem, interfederal spokesperson for the fight against Covid-19 Belgium, said two days after the country closed restaurants, bars and cafes and applied a national night-time curfew.