Record new Covid-19 cases recorded by 13 European countries

Record daily Covid-19 cases were announced by 13 European countries on Wednesday, as governments around the continent enact tighter restrictions amid fears that hospitals could run out of intensive care beds with winter looming.

German health minister Jens Spahn tested positive just hours after attending a cabinet meeting. He is suffering cold symptoms and is now self-isolating.

Meanwhile Italy, the first European epicentre of the virus, announced a record 15,199 new cases.

Britain, which has implemented a series of local lockdowns, recorded a new high of 26,688 new cases. It came amid a row between the government in London and northern England's largest city of Manchester.

Authorities in the latter had demanded a financial package to support low-paid workers in exchange for going into a stricter lockdown. After they failed to agree a deal that met the demands of leaders in Greater Manchester, the government ordered the new restrictions anyway.

High infection rates were particularly prevalent in eastern Europe, with Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine recording record surges. So too did the Netherlands with 8,764 new cases in the last 24 hours and Switzerland with 5,583.

People walk past anti-lockdown graffiti in Manchester. Getty Images

Election committee members wait for voters to arrive for early voting in the second round of a parliamentary election at a drive-in polling station in Vilnius, Lithuania. AP Photo

People walk past a sign reading "Mask is mandatory" on a shopping street in Frankfurt, Germany. Reuters

Students arrive at Politecnica university, in Valencia, Spain. EPA

A woman wears a face mask as she walks a dog in Rome, Italy. Reuters

A woman walks past a graffiti in Barcelona, Spain. Spain is nearing one million infections since the onset of the pandemic. AP Photo

People wait in line to be tested in a Red Cross test center at Cinquantenaire park in Brussels, Belgium. AP Photo

Students have their body temperature checked as they enter the Alessandro Volta high school in Milan, Italy. EPA

Earlier in the year, Switzerland was one of the least-affected countries but it is now seeing cases and hospitalisations doubling.

While new measures were introduced at the weekend, Swiss health minister Alain Berset said even tighter restrictions might have to be considered.

“The situation is worsening, and worsening fast,” Mr Berset told a press conference.

“Three weeks ago, we had a situation that was among the best on the European continent,” he said. “Three weeks later, we have one of the worst situations as far as Europe goes.”

The record cases in the Netherlands were announced as King Willem-Alexander apologised for taking a holiday to Greece last week despite the government introducing a partial lockdown.

In the Czech Republic, many stores and hotels have been closed after Prime Minister Andrej Babis warned the country’s health system could collapse as early as November 7.

People will be banned from leaving their homes, with some exceptions. They will still be allowed to travel to work, visit relatives, buy food and other necessities, do sports and travel abroad. State offices will also limit their opening hours.

“Those measures are in our view inevitable,” health minister Roman Prymula said. “To limit free movement of people is the most effective form of prevention,” he said. “All the measures limit contacts among people.”

Belgium, one of Europe’s worst-hit countries, has restricted nursing home visits. In the region of Flanders, infections in care homes have risen by 51 per cent and deaths have doubled in the last week.

The exponential infection growth rate across Belgium has created day-long queues at testing centres, leading the government to stop testing people who do not show Covid-19 symptoms.

Spain looks set to become the first European country to top one million cases with particularly tight restrictions now in place in the capital Madrid and the region of Catalonia.

The specs

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Graduated from the American University of Sharjah

She is the eldest of three brothers and two sisters

Has helped solve 15 cases of electric shocks

Enjoys travelling, reading and horse riding

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Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi

From: Dara

To: Team@

Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT

Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East

Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.

Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.

I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.

This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.

It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.

Uber on,

Dara

THE BIO

Favourite holiday destination: Whenever I have any free time I always go back to see my family in Caltra, Galway, it’s the only place I can properly relax.

Favourite film: The Way, starring Martin Sheen. It’s about the Camino de Santiago walk from France to Spain.

Personal motto: If something’s meant for you it won’t pass you by.

CHELSEA SQUAD

Arrizabalaga, Bettinelli, Rudiger, Christensen, Silva, Chalobah, Sarr, Azpilicueta, James, Kenedy, Alonso, Jorginho, Kante, Kovacic, Saul, Barkley, Ziyech, Pulisic, Mount, Hudson-Odoi, Werner, Havertz, Lukaku.