Hungary and Portugal have become the latest countries in Europe to impose tough new restrictions to stem the second wave of the coronavirus, as the first signs of light at the end of the tunnel emerged in France, Germany and Belgium.
As the US pharmaceuticals company Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech, said their experimental Covid-19 vaccine appeared safe and more than 90% effective, Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, announced a partial lockdown.
The restrictions, due to start on Wednesday and last 30 days, include an extension of an existing night-time curfew, a ban on gatherings, the closure of bars, restaurants and cultural venues and a move to online teaching for universities.
Hungary recorded 5,000 new infections on Monday, the fourth-highest per capita rate in the EU, with more than 6,000 Covid-19 patients in hospital. Nearly 4,150 people were on ventilators, close to the country’s capacity of 4,480 intensive care beds.
Portugal imposed a state of emergency and ordered about 70% of its population to stay home on weekday nights from 11pm to 5am for the next two weeks – and to only leave the house at the weekend in the mornings until 1pm, unless to buy essentials.
As the number of cases worldwide passed 50 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, a leading expert in Italy – where more than 41,000 people have died – said the situation there was becoming unmanageable.
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