Polish President Andrzej Duda has tested positive for coronavirus but is feeling good, presidential minister Blazej Spychalski announced on Twitter on Saturday. "The president yesterday was tested for the presence of coronavirus. The result turned out to be positive. The president is fine. We are in constant contact with the relevant medical services," Spychalski said. Faced with a surge in cases, the whole of Poland on Saturday went into a "red zone", a measure which until now only concerned the big cities and their surroundings. Restaurants and primary schools will be partially closed, and high school and university students will practice distance learning. Wedding ceremonies will be banned and the number of people in shops, transport and churches will be strictly limited. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned hospitals and intensive care units are running close to or above capacity in "too many countries", as the coronavirus outbreak continues to surge across Europe. New restrictions are rolling out across the continent as countries try to get a handle on a second wave of the virus, which is causing record numbers of cases. Across Europe, the number of infections since the start of the pandemic is now above 8.2 million and more than 258,000 people have died from COVID-19. France, which was the second western European country to surpass one million cases recorded, extended a curfew putting at least 46 million of its residents under extra restrictions which are now active. Germany surpassed the grim milestone of recording more than 10,000 deaths from the virus early on Saturday, making it the sixth European country to do so. And in eastern Europe, several countries rolled out new measures with cases spiraling out of control. "Too many countries are seeing an exponential increase in COVID-19 cases and that is now leading to hospitals and intensive care units running close or above capacity and we're still only in October," said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO's Director-General at a briefing on Friday. Nighttime curfews are being rolled out or considered in a number of countries in Europe to try to deal with the rise in cases. France extended its curfew to 38 more departments, where people now have to stay indoors between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. Nine metropolitan areas were already restricted last week. "We have to do this," said Macron, as a new record of 42,032 positive COVID-19 cases was recorded in 24 hours on Friday, bringing the total to 1,041,075 confirmed cases since the start of the epidemic in March. Hundreds of people clashed with police in Naples as mainly younger people protested against a curfew imposed in the area. In addition to the Naples region, curfews are in force in Italy in Lazio, the region of Rome, and in Lombardy, the region of Milan Greece's two main cities, Athens and Thessaloniki, will be subject to a night-time curfew from Saturday. And in Spain, which was the first western European country to pass the one million cases mark, several regions have called on the central government to impose a night time curfew. In Slovakia, a night time curfew comes into force on Saturday, until Nov. 1. And in the Czech Republic, another country with the worst infection and death rate in Europe over the past two weeks, partial containment is already in place until Nov. 3. Partial containment also applies from Saturday in Slovenia, where foreign minister Anze Logar tested positive for the coronavirus. — Agencies
