Europe: COVID-19 crisis prompts international airlift --Netherlands to Germany

ALMERE, Netherlands (AP) — A bright yellow helicopter rose into a blue sky Friday carrying a COVID-19 patient from the Netherlands to a German intensive care unit, the first such international airlift since the global pandemic first threatened to swamp Dutch hospitals in the spring.

The clatter of the helicopter’s rotors as it lifted off from a parking lot behind the Flevohospital in Almere, 30 kilometers (20 miles) east of Amsterdam, was a noisy reminder of how the coronavirus is again gripping Europe and straining countries’ health care systems.

In other cities across the continent, an absence of noise was set to underscore the extent of the resurgence of the virus as major cities from Rome to Paris rein in nightlife as part of the increasingly drastic measures nations are enforcing in an attempt to slow the spread of the pandemic.

In addition to the three overnight curfews declared early in the week by governors of Italian regions including Rome, Milan and Naples, the capital moved to make “nightlife” hours even shorter for young people who tend to hang out in trendy piazzas, carousing for hours without masks as they sip cocktails and knock down beers. ...

A curfew imposed on Paris and other French cities last week was extended to 38 more regions starting Friday night. A four-and-a-half hour nightly curfew is to come into effect Saturday night in the Greek capital, Athens, and the country’s second largest city of Thessaloniki, as well as several other areas deemed to have high infection rates.

In Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez publicly appealed for the country to pull together to defeat the new coronavirus.

“We have to step up the fight,” he said in a televised address to the nation which this week became the first European country to surpass 1 million officially recorded COVID-19 cases. Sánchez admitted, though, that the true figure could be more than 3 million, due to gaps in testing and other reasons. ...

Worldwide, the virus has infected more than 41 million people and killed more than 1.1 million, according to a count by Johns Hopkins University. The true numbers are far higher due to gaps in testing and reporting cases. ...

Also see: Tens of millions across Europe brace for tough new restrictions as coronavirus cases soar

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/23/europe/europe-coronavirus-restrictions-wrap-intl-gbr/index.html