New York on Wednesday announced that it would close schools to battle a rise in coronavirus infections as the death rate in Europe surged and protests against restrictions turned violent.
The toughened measures in America’s most-populous city came despite Pharma giant Pfizer boosting hopes of a possible end to the pandemic by announcing improved results for its vaccine.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said New York’s 1,800 public schools would revert to remote learning from Thursday after the city recorded a seven-day average positivity rate of three percent.
“We must fight back the second wave of Covid-19,” he said.
US states and cities are imposing a raft of new restrictions, including home confinement, the closure of indoor dining and a limit on gatherings as cases soar across the country.
Europe remains the hardest-hit region, accounting for 46 percent of new global cases and 49 percent of deaths last week, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
While infection rates in Europe have slowed, the WHO on Wednesday said the death rate went up by 18 percent last week from the previous week.
The figures showed the only region where cases and deaths declined last week was Southeast Asia.
Worldwide, more than 1.3 million people have died of Covid-19 and over 55 million have been infected with the virus since it first surfaced in China late last year, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP.
In Switzerland, one of the worst-hit countries in Europe, the Swiss Society for Intensive Care Medicine (SSMI) warned that intensive care units “are practically all full”.
More beds have been added, and the Swiss military has been called in to support efforts in several areas.