There is one thing that everyone wants to avoid: to have to go back to lockdown for the entire population. And while scientifics are still learning about the virus, in many areas authorities notice a rise of cases (although uncorrelated with the number of deaths that seems stable in many countries which managed to circumvent the spread of the coronavirus this summer). Scientifics are considering now highly likely that a return of the virus will occur in November or later in the winter (coming from the southern hemisphere and when the northern countries will be spending more time in confined spaces than outside).

We list below some measures that different countries have been taking, from closing beach resorts and restaurants, monitoring tourists, to full lockdown of some areas.

Italy

Italy has implemented strict confinement from 9 March 9 2020 to 4 May 2020, then a gradual deconfinement: reopening of non-essential shops, restaurants and bars on May 18th, sports on May 25th and international borders on 3 June 2020. This progressive deconfinement ended on June 16th with the reopening of cinemas and theatres.

However, since last week Italy has registered its worse number of new daily cases (more than 1000) for the last 4 months. Lombardy (Milan region) returned to the top of list of the most affected regions, with 239 additional cases, followed by Lazio (Rome region) and the Venice region. The surge is said to be caused by the return from holidaymakers, especially from Sardinia which was spared during the first wave, but saw a recent outbreak with groups of holidaymakers ignoring social distancing. Italy is running drive-in tests for holidaymakers arriving from the island by ferry to Civitavecchia, a large port located 70 km north of Rome.

Spain

Spain declared a state of emergency on March 14th, prompting the immediate closure of non-essential businesses and schools the same day, followed by restaurants, bars and cinemas the next day. Global lockdown was put in place on March 28th. A deconfinement plan was then drawn up by the government, organizing the lifting of containment measures in 4 phases, conditioned by the evolution of regional situations. The state of emergency ended on June 21st, authorising gathering of 20 people, public space for a capacity not exceeding 50% , occupation of the terraces up to 70% of the capacity…

Despite a gradual and localized deconfinement, the Spanish government was forced to backtrack by again confining the province of Lerida, in Catalonia, with more than 200,000 inhabitants, on Saturday 4 July 2020, then 14 localities in the county of A Mariña in the north-west of the country, i.e. 700,000 inhabitants from Monday, 6 June 2020.

France

The health ministry has published the latest advice of its Scientific Advisory Group called: "Be prepared for the anticipation and return of the virus this autumn". They consider that the end of the lockdown period from 11 May 2020 has been a success; however they are concerned by the recent increase of cases, with R0 around 1.3. According to their analysis, this is due to population movements linked to vacations, but above all to a gradual loss of barrier measures, wearing masks but also physical distancing, in particular in the youngest population.The obligation to wear a mask in closed public places is a measure that they recommand should be extended to all public spaces.

Following some of their scientific body's advice, the French government is currently extending the obligation to wear mask outside in major cities, such as Paris or Marseilles. Mask is already mandatory in all shops (but not in restaurants while eating) and from September 1st, masks will also be mandatory in offices in open spaces, corridors, meeting rooms, etc. Therefore, the French government is still advising to use remote working as much as possible.

United Kingdom

The UK was put into lockdown on 23 March 2020 (ban on leaving home except for the purchase of basic necessities), a little later than its European neighbours. Strict confinement was lifted on 13 May 2020 for the general public but without being accompanied by the opening of non-essential shops, bars and restaurants. The reopening of pubs, restaurants, hotels and cinemas occurred only early July.

However, during the lifting of the binding measures, the United Kingdom faced a major difficulty with the sudden deterioration of the health situation in the city of Leicester. 866 COVID-19 cases were diagnosed in two weeks, leading the Health Minister to stop the deconfinement process for this city and to go back by closing shops and schools that were open in mid-June.

Germany

Germany, with its decentralised organization, managed the COVID-19 epidemic crisis in a localised manner, with the Länders having prerogatives of public power in the area of ​​public health. The German strategy was that of containment. Numerous measures have been taken with a view to prevention and protection: ban on visits to nursing homes from 13 March 2020, curfews in 6 Länders, limitation to physical contact outside the home, border closures from 16 March 2020. The release from confinement was initiated on April 20th, with local and then federal governance for the opening of places of worship on 30 April 2020.

However, at the end of June, a large cluster with more than 1,000 positive cases of COVID-19 was detected in a slaughterhouse in Rheda-Wiedenbrück, leading to partial containment of the city. In addition, similar to other European countries, the return from German tourists who went abroad for holidays has caused an upsurge in coronavirus cases.

Ireland

The Irish government has decided to strengthen the rules for people gathering, with a maximum of 6 people for the same indoor space.

Austria

Austria is stopping every single car coming from Slovenia to record the personal data of all passengers, in order to be able to trace the contaminations. Hence the endless traffic jams at the border: holidaymakers, particularly Germans and Dutch, waited in some places for up to ten hours. A third of those who have tested positive for a month came from Croatia.

India

In India, the level of three million cases was passed on Sunday, with nearly 70,000 new cases recorded and 912 deaths, bringing the number of people who have succumbed to the disease to 56,706.The second most populous country on the planet had established a brutal national lockdown at the end of March, lifted at the beginning of June to try to reactivate the economy.

India has imposed strict measures during the religious holiday of Ganesh, which has just started. Access to the beaches has been reduced for this 10-day festival, an occasion for immense processions for the immersion in the Arabian Sea of imposing statues of the Hindu god Ganesh.

South Korea

They are closing beach resorts and restaurants, sport events are held without public and museum are also closed. Restrictive measures taken in Seoul are now extended to the whole country in order to stop the spread of the virus since the end of holidays (300 cases for two following days, level never reached before), and avoid a second wave. "We are in a very fragile phase which could see the start of a second national wave" said Health Minister Park Neung-hoo, during a press briefing last Saturday.

Australia

On 9th July 2020, the city of Melbourne was reconfined for a period of 6 weeks.

United States

Since the start of the epidemic, nearly 6 million people have been infected in the United States and more than 180,000 have died.

The US are particularly affected with its modalities of crisis management strongly polarised politically and institutionally between the management of States and federal governance. The current situation in the United States does not correspond to a second wave, but to the persistence of the pandemic in the country since March 2020.

Peru

A stampede in a nightclub in Lima caused the death of 13 people on Saturday evening, when they tried to escape police who showed up to enforce COVID-19 restrictions. Eleven of the thirteen people who died were infected with the coronavirus, according to the prosecution. Twenty-three people were also arrested, 15 of whom tested positive for the coronavirus.

Peru began lifting lockdown restrictions on 30 June, although nightclubs have not been allowed to open again since they closed in March. The country has reported about 27,500 deaths from Covid-19 and the daily reported number of infections has doubled to more than 9,000 in recent weeks. The country ranks sixth in the world for its total number of cases.

Paraguay

Paraguay’s capital, Asunción, and its suburbs - about two million people - are now subject to travel restrictions and mandatory masks in enclosed spaces in an attempt to slow the spread of the pandemic. The country has reported a total of about 14,200 cases and 231 deaths from Covid-19.

Mexico

More than 60,000 people have died of Covid-19 in Mexico with a total of more than 560,000 recorded cases, a figure that goes beyond the "most catastrophic" scenario envisioned by the country's health authorities.

South Africa

More than 500,000 cases of Covid-19 have already been confirmed in South Africa alone. Experts here agree that the country has good data, with a huge testing operation under way, especially compared to the rest of the continent as more than 65% of Africa's 55 countries have reported fewer than than 5,000 cases according to Africa CDC (Centres for Disease and Control and Prevention).

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