TOP HEADLINES

• Czechia, which has reported more than 2,000 new cases in a single day for the first time, has tightened preventive measures. With the reproduction, or R, rate rising to 1.6, bars and restaurants must close at midnight and older students must wear face masks in classrooms as well as hallways. 

• Ukraine set a daily record with 3,584 new coronavirus infections, the national security council said on Thursday – up from a previous peak of 3,144 on 11 September. Ukraine has a total of 166,244 cases, with 3,400 deaths. 

• The Netherlands registered a third consecutive record daily case rise, with the health ministry warning that test capacity was not nearly enough for the wave of possible infections. Belgium and Germany have advised against unnecessary travel to Amsterdam and Rotterdam.

• Germany has added Austria's capital Vienna and Hungary's capital Budapest to its pandemic risk list due to the rising number of coronavirus infections there, authorities said on Wednesday. Germany also added the French region Hauts-de-France and Swiss canton Fribourg to the list.

• Austria is limiting private indoor gatherings to 10 people, just six days after the gatherings were limited to 50 people. Other new measures will affect bars and restaurants.

• Hundreds of workers at French testing laboratories went on strike on Thursday, angry over poor working conditions as the system buckles under huge demand. "We're overwhelmed," one protesting lab nurse said.

• Ireland has tightened travel restrictions by imposing quarantine measures on travelers from major holiday markets including Italy and Greece. The country’s new non-quarantine "Green List" includes just seven countries: Cyprus, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

• The UK will need more than its current target of 500,000 daily tests after October, the head of England’s test-and-trace system said on Thursday. "I'm certain that we will need more," said Dido Harding.

• French health minister Olivier Veran said gatherings of family are a major source of infections. "If everyone reduced his number of social contacts, this would help reduce the spread," said Veran, noting that five people out of 100 being tested are now testing positive, versus one in 100 at the start of summer. 

• Belarus is considering conducting a 100-person trial of Russia's COVID-19 vaccine. Still pending regulatory approval, the trial is one of several that Russia hopes to conduct abroad for the "Sputnik-V" vaccine, for which ongoing trials in Russia involve at least 40,000 people.

• Italy could have its first vaccine shots by the end of November, according to the managing director of biotech firm IRBM, the Rome-based lab cooperating with drug maker AstraZeneca's potential COVID-19 vaccine. 

• Restrictions have been tightened for almost two million people in England's North East region, with pubs closing earlier and limits on households mixing. The measures have been described as necessary to prevent a "damaging full lockdown.'

• Hungary's prime minister Viktor Orban expects the second wave to peak around December or January. The country will maintain border closures and make the wearing of face masks mandatory in cinemas, theaters and social institutions to contain the spread, Orban said on Wednesday. 

ACROSS EUROPE

Mark Webster in Frankfurt

A German virologist working in a research hospital in Bonn has suggested the strength of the pandemic should not be judged by the infection rate but by the number of hospitalizations and deaths. 

Hendrik Streek said young people were over-represented among cases of infections in Germany but they are not generally becoming severely ill. He therefore said it was debatable whether the infection rate offered a reliable snapshot of what was happening in the pandemic.

Germany has been extremely successful in treating the virus. The death toll, which rose by two in the past 24 hours, now stands at 9,447 – well below that of many other European countries.

Rahul Pathak in Madrid

There is confusion in Madrid over whether or not the regional government will impose another lockdown following the recent surge in COVID-19 cases. The latest figures show that in the 24 hours between Tuesday and Thursday there were 11,193 new infections nationally, 31 percent of which are in the Spanish capital.

The region's deputy heath chief said there would be "selective confinements in the areas with the highest incidence" across Madrid. However, the right-wing regional premier Isabel Ayuso has denied this. The confusion has prompted many locals to leave the capital in an effort to avoid another lockdown. 

Ross Cullen in Paris

The number of French people being treated for COVID-19 in intensive care units rose for the 20th consecutive day to a three-month high of 803. The number of new daily coronavirus cases was 9,784 – the third highest 24-hour figure on record. 

Separately, the French government is now forecasting the economy to shrink by 10 percent in 2020, whereas it had previously predicted an 11 percent contraction. Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire confirmed on Thursday that the government expects growth of 8 percent in 2021. 

The president of the Paris capital region, Ile-de-France, says 370 classes and a high school are currently closed there due to coronavirus. And nationally, fraud related to partial unemployment has been estimated at $265 million, according to the Ministry of Labor.

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