Italy's Covid cases soar, Austria teeters toward lockdown

Italy’s Covid-19 infections numbers soared on Friday, while Austria was edging closer to national lockdown measures, reported EFE-EPA.

Elsewhere, Belgium is maintaining its current restrictions, which include a curfew, for at least two weeks.

ITALY

Italian authorities on Friday logged 40,902 new Covid-19 infections in the last 24 hours and the government added two new regions, Campania and Tuscany, to the so-called red list of high-risk areas, meaning they fall under a partial lockdown.

According to the health minister, the latest data pushes Italy’s overall coronavirus infections to more than 1.1 million since the pandemic began. The official death toll is over 44,000.

Health authorities conducted more than 250,000 tests in the last 24 hours and the data returned a positivity rate of 16%.

The hospitals in Italy are at near capacity with 31,000 patients nationwide, an increase of 1,000 in the previous day. At least 3,200 people are in ICU.

Despite the outlook, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte wants to avoid a nationwide quarantine in the hope that the measures currently in place will bring the infection rate down.

He did, however, give an early warning that at the current rate social gatherings and parties would still be ruled out over the Christmas period.

AUSTRIA

Things are looking gloomy in Austria, too, as the country teeters toward a full lockdown.

Restrictions tantamount to a partial lockdown in place over the last 10 days have yet to have the desired effect on the Covid-19 situation.

Health authorities in the Alpine nation reported 9,586 new infections in the last 24 hours.

According to local media, the federal government is poised to announce a tightening of the lockdown on Saturday.

Local press said it would likely resemble the restrictions in place during the first wave of coronavirus in spring.

According to the most recent data from Austrian health authorities, the seven-day cumulative infection rate stands at 532 Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people.

The country’s hospitals are also nearing capacity, with the number of Covid patients doubling in the space of two weeks.

Sebastian Kurz, Austria’s chancellor, could order the closure of non-essential businesses for a period of two to three weeks, with the aim of re-opening those sectors in time for Christmas.

BELGIUM

Belgium is to keep its current partial lockdown in place for another two weeks in a bid to keep a handle on Covid-19 transmissions. Non-essential businesses will stay closed and a nightly curfew will remain in vigor in the hope that infection rates and hospital admissions come down.

Face mask use in public and remote working are both obligatory in Belgium.

“Belgium remains in a health emergency,” Prime Minister Alexander de Croo said after a meeting to review restrictions.

Schools are due to reopen on Monday after an extended vacation period.

Belgium has one of the highest infection rates in Europe with a 14-day cumulative rate of 1,232 cases per 100,000 but the outlook is slowly improving.

Belgium’s health minister Franck Vandenbroucke said that speculation about the Christmas period and New Year was still “absolutely premature.”