Second wave of coronavirus spreads across Europe: France and the UK recorded the highest daily COVID-19 cases ever. The EU warned that some countries have worse outbreaks than during the peak in March

“We are now seeing a second wave of coronavirus across Europe,” that was the warning message from U.K.’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Johnson said his country is facing the same dangerous surge as France and Spain, and suggested young people failing to socially distance is a cause of that.

Just yesterday, France and the UK recorded their highest daily COVID-19 cases since the coronavirus pandemic began in Wuhan, China in December 2019. The EU also warned that some of its member countries now have worse outbreaks than they had in March. At this point, the only exception is Sweden.

On Thursday, Stella Kyriakides, the EU’s health commissioner, warned that in “some member states, the situation is now even worse than during the peak in March.” The good news, however, is that while infections have increased, the number of deaths has not risen so sharply.

Even as coronavirus cases spike in Europe, the number of new cases here in the U.S. continues to fall. New coronavirus cases in the U.S. remained below 40,000. The World Health Organisation (WHO) warns today there is a ‘very serious situation’ unfolding in Europe. WHO characterized a dramatic rise in new coronavirus cases in Europe as a “wake up call.”

However, unlike the first wave when Europe implemented a total lockdown except for Sweden, the continent rejects new lockdown measures even as coronavirus rebounds. Instead, Europe is embracing what it calls “targeted lockdowns and restrictions” across the continent. For example, despite recording 9,843 daily cases the previous day, a record amount, the French government said it is not planning a new nationwide lockdown, French prime minister Jean Castex said last Friday.

Below is a snapshot of the situation across European countries as of Friday:

• France reported 16,096 new cases on Thursday. The cases are far higher than during its first peak in March when a record of 7,578 cases was set.
• Belgium reported 2028 cases on September 18, second only to its April 15 high of 2,454.
• Denmark reported a record of 589 cases on September 19, compared to its April peak of 390.
• Greece reported its highest-ever number of new cases on September 21, with 453 cases.
• The UK reported 6,634 on Thursday, beating its previous record of 6,201 on May 1.
• Poland reported a single-day record on September 14, with 1,136 cases.