Austria Experiencing the Start of a Second Wave

Austria is experiencing the start of a second wave of coronavirus infections, the country’s chancellor announced on Sunday, as the country saw a spike in new cases.

From Friday to Saturday the nation of 9 million reported 869 new cases, more than half in the capital of Vienna.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz warned that the mark of 1,000 daily cases would be reached within a few days, showing that the country is experiencing the “beginning of a second wave.” On Friday, he expanded mandatory mask-wearing in public places.

Here is the latest from around the world:

Europe

Daily confirmed cases have reached a record level for the fourth day this in a week in the Czech Republic, at 1,541 cases. Health Minister Adam Vojtech said “nobody expected” such a spike. The Czech Republic has seen 35,401 cases and 453 deaths.

France saw more than 10,000 daily infections on Saturday, the highest ever number. Prime Minister Jean Castex said Friday that the country was considering new restrictions on public life owing to the deteriorating situation.

Dutch Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra said the survival of the Air France-KLM airline group was not guaranteed if the economic crisis caused by the pandemic continued. The airlines received a combined €10.4 billion ($12.3 billion) from their respective countries in order to stay afloat during the economic crisis.

Germany experienced further anti-lockdown demonstrations in cities like Munich over the weekend, with hundreds of people taking to the street. Some held signs claiming that coronavirus is a conspiracy theory. Such protests have become a regular occurrence in Germany.

Middle East

Syrian state media said more than 3 million Syrian students started school in government-held regions of the country Sunday, marking the first day of school with strict prevention measures. Many students outside of government control, primarily in the northwestern province of Idlib, have missed attending school due to violence.

While UNHCR steps up efforts to combat COVID-19 among tens of thousands of Syrian refugees in camps in Jordan after the first three cases were confirmed last week.

India

India said it was considering granting an emergency authorisation for a COVID-19 vaccine, particularly for the elderly and people in high-risk workplaces, as the country’s number of reported infections passed 4.75 million.

India, which has consistently reported over 1,000 COVID-19 deaths daily this month, has now recorded 78,586 fatalities from the disease.

It lags only the United States globally in overall number of infections, but it has been adding more daily cases than the United States since mid-August.

The comments came as the Indian health ministry reported 94,372 new COVID-19 cases and 1,114 deaths on Sunday.