Home » Latest » World News » Coronavirus Outbreak Worsens In Europe

Coronavirus Outbreak Worsens In Europe

5

InfoSearched 85 0 World News

9.3

SaveSavedRemoved 0

Europe has become the epicenter of the pandemic, and the numbers are getting worse by the day.

NBC Nightly News reported on March 12 that roughly 70 percent of new coronavirus cases worldwide were now originating in Europe, a statistic CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield gave to Congress just hours before President Trump announced a 30-day travel ban on the continent’s 26-nation Schengen Area. Italy crossed 1,000 deaths the same day. Ireland reported its first fatality. France’s president told his country it was facing its worst public health crisis in a century.

• Italy’s death toll hit 1,016 with more than 15,000 confirmed infections on March 12, prompting Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s nationwide lockdown.
• Dr. Robert Redfield told Congress that roughly 70 percent of new global coronavirus cases were coming from Europe, the stat behind President Trump’s 30-day travel ban on the Schengen Area.
• Ireland confirmed its first coronavirus death and shut down all schools, colleges, and childcare facilities; France ordered nationwide school and university closures.

Italy’s Lockdown and a Grim Threshold

Italy became the first country outside Asia to shut itself down almost entirely, and by March 12 the human cost was stark: 1,016 dead, more than 15,000 infected. Under Conte’s decree, streets and piazzas in Rome, Milan, and Venice sat empty, with non-essential shops, bars, and restaurants ordered closed. The strain fell hardest on Lombardy in the north, where intensive care units were described as reaching catastrophic capacity as doctors triaged patients faster than beds could open up.

Roughly 70 percent of all new coronavirus cases worldwide were now originating in Europe, CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield told Congress.

Washington’s Response: The Travel Ban

Redfield’s testimony landed directly on President Trump’s desk. Citing the concentration of new infections in Europe, the administration rolled out a 30-day travel ban restricting foreign nationals arriving from the Schengen Area’s 26 member states. The move mirrored earlier restrictions on China and signaled that the White House now viewed Europe, not Asia, as the immediate front line of the outbreak reaching American shores. Similar to how states within the U.S. would soon tighten their own rules as case counts climbed, the federal government’s opening move was to control who could cross the border at all.

Ireland and France Move to Shut Down

Ireland’s government confirmed its first coronavirus fatality on March 12 and immediately ordered the closure of all schools, colleges, and childcare facilities nationwide, betting on early containment before case numbers spiraled. France went further at the top: President Emmanuel Macron addressed the nation directly, announcing school and university closures and calling the virus the country’s greatest public health crisis in a hundred years — language meant to shock a population still weighing how seriously to treat the threat.

The Rest of the Continent Buckles

Spain and Germany both reported sharp surges in infections the same week, triggering border checks, grounded flights, and new limits on public gatherings across the region. Hospitals from Madrid to Berlin braced for the kind of patient surge already overwhelming Lombardy. The pattern echoed what had been building for weeks as case totals climbed across other parts of Europe and Eurasia, with governments increasingly choosing lockdowns over gradual containment as the only option left on the table.

Italy’s northern hospitals are the warning sign every other European government is now racing to avoid — Conte locked down an entire country of 60 million people to keep Lombardy’s ICUs from collapsing entirely, and by March 12 it still wasn’t clear if it would be enough. The next 30 days, starting with Trump’s travel restrictions taking effect, are the window everyone’s watching.