New Curfew in Paris Is a Troubling Sign in Europe

A feared uptick in COVID cases with the start of fall seems to have begun in earnest in Europe, with the continent now averaging more than 100,000 new infections a day over the last week, reports the New York Times. This is Europe's highest total yet, notes NPR. Europe also was outpacing the US in cases, with 152 per million residents, compared to 150 cases per million residents here, reports the Wall Street Journal. However, the US figure of 2 deaths a day per million residents is about twice as high as the death rate in Europe, the story notes. More:

• Paris: A new curfew goes into effect in Paris and eight other metro areas in France starting Saturday. The curfews will run from 9pm to 6am for four weeks. "The virus is everywhere in France," President Emmanuel Macron said as he announced a state of emergency.

• Spain: Bars and restaurants in the Catalonia region must close for dine-in eating for 15 days, while stores, theaters, and gyms must limit operations.
• Germany: Angela Merkel also announced new restrictions after Germany saw more than 5,100 cases on Tuesday, up more than 2,600 from the previous week. "I am watching with great concern the renewed increase in infection numbers in almost every part of Europe," said Merkel.
• Britain: London residents are under new travel restrictions, reports the AP. A three-tier alert system went into effect this week that will be applied to different areas in lieu of a national lockdown. Liverpool is for now the only area under the "very high" alert stage, and crowds jammed the streets in the hours before new restrictions took effect.
• Elsewhere: The Czech Republic and Northern Ireland have closed schools, while Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia were among the nations reporting record daily cases, per the AP.
• Here: So how is the US doing? "Critical measures are showing a resurgence," reports the New York Times, which shares various graphs and stats to that end here.

(More COVID-19 stories.)