Covid restrictions tightened across Europe

COVID in Europe: Austria extends lockdown as Portugal tightens restrictions | Euronews with AP:

Map courtesy New York Times

December 1, 2021 - "COVID-19 cases are sweeping Europe once again.... Measures vary across the continent.... Here is a run-down of the latest situation in some of the European countries.

• "Austria's lockdown has officially been extended until December 11.... Essential shops that were allowed to open until 9 pm, however, will have to close by 7 pm starting on ... December 2.... Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg has also said that vaccination will become compulsory from February 1. Authorities in Austria said on November 17 that travellers would need to show a negative PCR test upon entering the country.
• "Portugal reintroduced tighter pandemic restrictions on Wednesday.... Face masks have once again become mandatory and the country tightened control of its borders. A digital certificate proving vaccination or recovery from COVID-19 is required to access restaurants, cinemas and hotels.... 
• "Belgium has closed nightclubs and requires people to work from home as part of an effort to curb COVID-19 cases. The government issued new measures on Friday (November 26) including shutting bars and restaurants from 11 pm. Events held indoors must be seated and private meetings, besides weddings and funerals, are banned.... 
• "Netherlands ... restrictions entered into force over the weekend includ[e] the closure of all non-essential shops including bars and restaurants from 17:00 to 05:00.... Hospitality and cultural venues have to ensure people are seated 1.5m apart.... Amateurs sporting events are also not permitted between 17:00 and 05:00 with professional sports events allowed to proceed but with no spectator.
• "A 30-day state of emergency came into effect on Friday (November 26) as the Czech Republic sees record-high COVID-19 cases.... Christmas markets across the country are banned and people will not be allowed to drink alcohol in public places.... Bars, restaurants, nightclubs, discotheques and casinos have to close at 10 p.m. The number of people at culture and sports events will be limited to 1,000 who are vaccinated or have recovered from COVID-19 All other public gatherings can be attended by up to 100 visitors, down from 1,000.
• "Slovakia declared a 90-day state of emergency and a two-week lockdown.... The ... measures ... include closing all non-essential stores, as well as bars and restaurants....
• [In] France ... From 15 January, all adults will need a booster jab at least seven months after being fully vaccinated in order to keep their health passes. From mid-December, people over the age of 65 will need one to have their health passes extended....
• "The Italian government on Wednesday (November 24) decided to exclude unvaccinated people from certain leisure activities.... Starting December 6, only people with proof of vaccination or of having recovered from COVID-19 can eat at indoor restaurants, go to the movies or attend sporting events. Having just a negative test result is no longer acceptable.... A new government decree also made vaccinations mandatory for law enforcement, military, and all school employees, among others.... Twenty towns in Italy's South Tyrol province face harsher COVID-19 restrictions from Wednesday (November 24) with an 8 pm curfew.... On public transport, passengers must wear an FFP2 mask or equivalent....
• "Sweden ... has announced that from December 1 a health pass will be required to attend any event of more than 100 people. The COVID pass — attesting that the holder has either been fully vaccinated, tested negative over the previous 72 hours or recovered from the disease over the preceding six months — has so far only been used in Sweden for travel purposes....
• "New COVID-19 restrictions came into force in Ireland on Thursday (November 18).... People were told to work from home unless attending the workplace is 'absolutely necessary'. A requirement for COVID-19 passes (based on vaccination or recovery) is extended to cinemas and theatres, while closing times for all on-licensed premises, including in hotels, will move to midnight.
• "[In] Ukraine From December 9, unvaccinated civil servants and social workers will be fired, the government said.... 
• [In] Latvia From 15 December, people must present a COVID-19 vaccination or recovery certificate in order to show up to work.
• "On November 12, Denmark reintroduced its digital pass.... For the next month, a valid pass is mandatory in order to enter nightclubs or cafes or to be seated indoors in restaurants." [stress added]

Read more: https://www.euronews.com/2021/12/01/covid-19-spike-felt-across-europe-as-vaccination-remains-stagnant

Greek curfew may have increased Covid spread

Night Curfew May Have Increased the Spread of COVID-19 in Greece | Daily Sceptic - Noah Carl: 

June 16, 2021 - "During the pandemic, many countries have imposed night curfews in an attempt to reduce the spread of COVID-19.... According to a recent study, they may have actually increased transmission.  

"Sotiris Georganas and colleagues took advantage of a natural experiment in Greece whereby the timing of night curfew shifted in one region but not in another. While a 9pm curfew had been in place throughout the country since November of 2020, a 6pm weekend curfew was introduced on 6th February in the Attica region (which includes Athens). The authors used Google mobility data to examine how time spent at home, and time spent at groceries/pharmacies, changed in the Attica region and the Epirus and Western Macedonia region (where the timing of night curfew did not shift). Specifically, they examined mobility data in each region in the five weekends before the shift, as well as the four weekends after....

"Compared to the Epirus & Western Macedonia region, the Attica region saw a small and statistically significant increase in time spent at home, as well as a small and non-significant decrease in time spent at groceries/pharmacies. In other words, the shift in the timing of night curfew had – at best – a marginal impact on mobility.

"Given that the shift reduced the time available for shopping by three full hours (a change of almost 20%), the overall effect will have been to increase crowding – by concentrating roughly the same amount of shopping into a shorter time period. As a consequence, it may well have led to a rise in transmission.  In the authors’ words, 'As more people were present simultaneously in high-risk places such as supermarkets, the early curfew backfired.' 

"This finding suggests that governments should focus on protecting care homes and hospitals, rather than trying to control the epidemic by tweaking people’s shopping habits."

Read more: https://dailysceptic.org/2021/06/16/night-curfew-may-have-increased-the-spread-of-covid-19-in-greece/

Read study: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.13.21255091v1

Graph courtesy CTV News

Life in a ZeroCovid dystopia

Melbourne embraced zero-Covid. Now it remains isolated as the world bounces back | The Telegram - Megan Gold: 

October 15, 2021 - "It’s a bright cold day in October and the clocks are striking nine. That’s the time when residents of my home town of Melbourne, Australia, must obey a curfew or face crushing fines for breaching health orders. It’s not quite Orwell’s Oceania, but Australia’s second city shares some alarming similarities with the totalitarian regime from Nineteen Eighty-Four.

"Melbourne holds the dubious record of being the most locked-down city in the world – 260 days and counting. Watching television footage from Italy, India, New York and even London at the peak of their outbreaks terrified many Australians into relinquishing all their civil liberties.

"Unlike in the UK, where advice is formulated by Sage, Australian state health officers issue restrictions without explaining the science underpinning them. Many experts doubt that rules like curfews curb Covid at all. As cases in locked-down Melbourne reached a record high of 2,300 per day, officials in Sydney ended lockdown early after a vaccination drive. The reason for the spike is that Melbourne’s lockdown-fatigued citizens are secretly breaking all the rules, even those that actually work.

"Democracy has crumbled under zero Covid, with parliaments shut for months under health orders. The twitching curtain brigade, encouraged by government campaigns urging them to inform on their neighbours, watch for rule-breakers and use special hotlines to summon the police. Melbourne police were recently ordered to patrol playgrounds until a public outcry forced a U-turn. In a park near me, children on scooters flee as a police car pulls up. It’s like a scene from RoboCop.

"Masks are mandatory outdoors even if walking on a windswept beach or a deserted street. Those caught disobeying may be fined, handcuffed, forcibly masked and arrested if they refuse to comply. In another Orwellian twist, health orders banning protests are issued by bureaucrats reporting to the very leaders the protesters are demonstrating against. Protest organisers, including a pregnant woman, have been arrested in their homes and hit with conspiracy charges. Religious worship, even in small groups outdoors, has been banned.

"Getting into Australia has been near-impossible. Getting out requires a North Korea-style exit permit. Border closures have separated families and caused untold hardship. Babies have died, unable to access urgent medical attention at the nearest hospital across a locked state border. Thousands of holiday-makers who were travelling when border closures were imposed have been made homeless, some having to sleep in cars or live for months in refugee-style campsites, unable to return home even if they are double vaccinated. Some have been prevented from visiting dying relatives in other cities. Yet state leaders have held firm, only lifting interstate bans for celebrities and sports stars.

"Many abroad envy Australians, believing we have escaped the worst of the pandemic, but the true cost of our lockdown policy is yet to be fully understood. While deaths have remained low, other metrics paint a disastrous picture. Psychologists and GPs report a surge in substance abuse, eating disorders, domestic and child abuse, truancy, depression, anxiety and self-harm. Even high vaccine uptake may not protect the most vulnerable from Covid; let alone the other illnesses that could ravage Australia due to the 'immunity debt' caused by much lower exposure to other viruses."

Read more: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/10/15/melbourne-embraced-zero-covid-now-remains-isolated-world-bounces/

German gov't grabs lockdown powers from states

Germans confront new Covid lockdown rules that could last until June | CNBC - Holly Ellyatt:

April 26, 2021 - "Germany has implemented tough lockdown rules in a bid to curb a third wave of [Covid-19] infections, issuing a set of new measures expected to last until June. Protests have been seen in several German cities after the restrictions were introduced this weekend on coronavirus hot spots. A curfew, limits on customers in shops, leisure center closures and limits on household contacts are part of the measures....

"Enacting a 'nationwide emergency brake,' cities or districts that exceed a seven-day incidence rate of 100 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants over three consecutive days must now implement the lockdowns. Schools are to close if incidence rates are above 165 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants for three days in a row. Data from the Robert Koch Institute, Germany’s public health body, shows that all but one of Germany’s 16 states are above the threshold for the emergency brake to kick in.... 

"The measures, set out in the Infection Protection Act, effectively expand the federal government’s authority to control the pandemic. Germany’s states have been largely able to set their own rules....

"[T]he measures — and, particularly, the curfew, which will run from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. and allows people to leave their homes only if they must go to or from work, seek medical assistance or take a dog for a walk — have provoked fury among some members of the public, with small demonstrations taking place in several cities at the weekend, notably Frankfurt and Hanover.

"German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended the new rules, urging compliance. 'If we succeed now in reducing infections significantly and quickly, step-by-step relaxations will be possible in the foreseeable future,' she said in her weekly video podcast.... Finance Minister Olaf Scholz told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper that he didn’t think the measures would be eased before the end of May."

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/26/german-coronavirus-new-lockdown-rules-could-last-until-june.html

Dutch lower court strikes down curfew

Covid: Dutch crisis as court orders end to Covid curfew | BBC News:

Feb. 16, 2021 - "A court in The Hague has told the Dutch government that an overnight curfew to reduce the spread of coronavirus should be lifted, ruling that it breaches the right to free movement. The court said the 21:00 to 04:30 curfew was imposed by an emergency law when there was no 'acute emergency'. Later, a higher court ruled that the curfew could stay in place pending an appeal on Friday....

"The earlier court ruling - which said the curfew should be lifted immediately - was a victory for campaign group Viruswaarheid (Virus Truth) and a major upset for the government. The government quickly asked for the decision to be suspended until an appeal was heard at the end of the week. An appeals court later granted that suspension. 

"Prime Minister Mark Rutte described the ruling against the curfew as a setback and urged people to continue to follow the restrictions, which he said were 'simply necessary'. The Dutch cabinet is urgently working on a new law to enforce the curfew, but that could take time....

"France has had a nightly curfew from 18:00 but has stopped short of imposing a third lockdown. Greece has also imposed curfews, as have Spain and Italy.

"The Dutch measure, which came into force on 23 January, was intended to reduce movement, particularly among young people, but triggered days of rioting in a number of towns and cities. The Netherlands had not seen a curfew since Nazi occupation in World War Two.

"Although the Netherlands initially avoided strict measures, a lockdown was brought in last December and, after the cabinet decided on a curfew in January, MPs backed it days later amid fears that the UK, or Kent, variant would increase infections. The government resigned before last month's curfew decision and now has a caretaker role ahead of elections next month."

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56084466

Dutch youth riot to protest Covid curfew

Rioting Dutch youths torch Covid testing center | Joy Online - Source: DW:  

24 January 2021 - "Youths torched a Covid-19 testing center and threw fireworks at police in the central Dutch fishing village of Urk overnight into Sunday. They were protesting a nationwide curfew that went into effect on Saturday in a bid to rein in the coronavirus pandemic. The curfew runs from 9:30 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. local time (2030 to 0330 UTC/GMT) and will remain in place until February 9.... Exceptions to the curfew include medical emergencies, people performing essential jobs and people walking their dogs. Violators can be fined €95 ($115).

"Across the Netherlands, police said they arrested a total of 25 people and handed out 3,600 fines for violations of the curfew from Saturday into Sunday. Last Sunday, Covid lockdown sceptics clashed with riot police on horseback in a central square in Amsterdam. A total of 143 people were detained. Another protest against the new measures is planned for Sunday afternoon in the same square. Mayor Femke Halsema designated the area as a “high-risk zone” to give police the power to frisk people for weapons."

Read more: https://www.myjoyonline.com/rioting-dutch-youths-torch-covid-testing-center/

Dutch streets relatively calm as police out in force following days of anti-lockdown riots | CBC News - Thomson Reuters:

January 26, 2021 - "With shops boarded up and riot police out in force, it was relatively calm in Dutch cities on Tuesday night after three days of violence during which around 500 people were detained. In several cities, including the capital Amsterdam, some businesses closed early and emergency ordinances were in place to give law enforcement greater powers to respond to the rioting, which was prompted by a nighttime curfew to curb the spread of the coronavirus. On Tuesday when the 9 p.m. curfew went into effect, rowdy crowds of youths gathered in Amsterdam and Hilversum, but were broken up without incident. In Rotterdam, 33 people were detained for violating physical distancing regulations and vandalism.

"That was in stark contrast to Monday night, when rioting rocked cities across the country and more than 180 people were arrested for burning vehicles, stone throwing and widespread looting.... National Police chief Willem Woelders told Dutch public television[:] 'We did not need to use the riot police or other forces.' But he cautioned that one night of quiet did not mean they could let down their guard....

"The Netherlands' first curfew since the Second World War was imposed on Saturday despite weeks of falling infections, after the National Institute for Health (RIVM) expressed concern over the presence of a faster-spreading variant first found in England.

"A hospital in Rotterdam had warned visitors of patients to stay away, after reports that rioters tried to attack hospitals in various cities. A countrywide appeal issued by law enforcement authorities Tuesday called on parents to keep teenagers indoors, warning they could end up with a criminal record and forced to pay for damage to cars, shops and public property.

"In Amsterdam on Monday, groups of youths threw fireworks, broke store windows and attacked a police truck, but were broken up by a massive police presence. Ten police officers were injured in Rotterdam, where 60 people were detained overnight after widespread looting and destruction in the city centre, a police spokesperson said. Supermarkets in the port city were emptied, while rubbish bins and vehicles were set ablaze. Two photographers were hurt after being targeted by rock-throwing gangs, one in Amsterdam and another in the nearby town of Haarlem, police said.

"Coronavirus infections have been falling in recent weeks, with the number of new cases down by eight per cent over the past week.... Schools and non-essential shops across the Netherlands have been shut since mid-December. Bars and restaurants were closed two months earlier."

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/netherlands-braces-anti-lockdown-riots-1.5887948

Despite Covid, life goes on as normal in Belarus

Belarus: the land Covid forgot | Spiked - Daniel Hardaker:

November 16, 2020 - "Belarus, the spotlessly clean, neo-classical avenues of Minsk in particular, is in the grip of mass unrest. Balaclava-clad snatch-squads roam the streets in unmarked vans. Twitchy 18-year-old army conscripts, nervously clutching rusting AK74s, stand across from defiant and jubilant protesters. And the white-red-white tricolour of the opposition to President Lukashenko is hung from balconies and strung across tower-block windows.... However, my state of mind while witnessing all this — and, I wager, that of most lockdown-sceptical Western visitors — is one chiefly of relief....

"Belarus has not adopted any of the Covid measures embraced by the Western political bubble. There is nothing of the West’s panic, induced as it is by the rolling death tolls, hospital footage, campaigning scientists, and subsequently nodded through in a daze by parliamentary and legal power-checkers neglecting their responsibilities. Belarus is of course in crisis, but it is a different kind of crisis, one that has the effect of a turn towards life, not away from it.

"Despite Lukashenko’s opponents wanting an end to his 30-year reign and arbitrary decrees, there is a small but significant sense of mutual understanding between Lukashenko and the opposition regarding Covid, even if it is not often explicitly stated. When Lukashenko called Covid ‘yet another psychosis’, and declared ‘I’ve gone through many situations of psychosis together with you, and we know what the results were’, he echoed the sentiment of many in the former Eastern Bloc, particularly in what used to be East Germany, who have lived through periods of state-managed fear before....

"The clubs are open until 7 or 8am, and the after-parties go on longer.... It is not only young people, either. Families and the elderly are visible in cafes, restaurants, churches, shops, markets and on public transport. A few wear masks, but there is no requirement, and no glares should you enter an enclosed space without one.

"The biggest respite, though, is the total lack of the idea that proximity to other human beings brings forth mortal danger. No side-stepping on the pavement, no comments about social distancing, and no qualms about a little personal-space invasion on the packed metro....

"No section of Belarusian society appears preoccupied with Covid. There are some differences of opinion about what constitutes taking precautions, but it is clear to everyone that this is not the plague, and it does not require anywhere near the level of reaction seen elsewhere.

"I am sad to be leaving. I do not want to go back to the land of chin-warming masks, arbitrary business closures and avoidable cancer deaths. Hope was generated, however, by the surprise that the Covid measure-induced neuroses, like the wariness of standing too close to others, hesitating to offer a handshake, or the pressure to cover the face and nose, disappeared within a few days of arriving. The fear of these things becoming permanent has retreated a little."

Read more: https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/11/16/belarus-the-land-covid-forgot/

Spain, Italy, Poland locked down

Italy imposes harshest coronavirus restrictions since spring lockdown as second wave sweeps Europe | Washington Post - Ruby Mellen:

October 25, 2020 - "Italy became the latest European country to announce new restrictions to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus on Sunday as countries across the continent continue to report surging infections.... Beginning Monday, restaurants and bars will be required to close by 6 p.m., and gyms, pools and movie theaters must shut down entirely. The restrictions are the fourth round of tightening this month in Italy, and the most severe since the country lifted its nationwide lockdown in May....

"Spain, which flattened its spring curve with a three-month-long lockdown that started in March, announced new national restrictions Saturday. Under a new state of emergency, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez imposed a national nighttime curfew, banned gatherings of more than six people and gave regional governments the authority to restrict movement. 

"On Thursday, Ireland became the first European country to go back under national lockdown."

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/coronavirus-europe-italy-second-wave-lockdown/2020/10/25/6c011306-16df-11eb-82db-60b15c874105_story.html

New Lockdowns in Europe Amid Coronavirus Resurgence | Voice of America:

October 25, 2020 - "Both Spain and France, which enacted nighttime curfews to quell the spread of the virus, have surpassed more than 1 million cases, according to data compiled by the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center....  

"The European Union's disease control agency, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, has joined the World Health Organization to sound the alarm over a new surge of the coronavirus across the continent, as the WHO warned that the infection is rising exponentially. ECDC Director Andrea Ammon said Europe is facing a major threat to public health and a 'highly concerning epidemiological situation.' All EU countries except Cyprus, Estonia, Finland and Greece fell into a 'serious concern' category, as did Britain, the agency said.

"Elsewhere in Europe, Poland has seen a sharp increase in infections, with 13,628 new cases reported Saturday. Polish President Andrzej Duda is among those who have tested positive, as the country imposed more lockdown measures including a two-week closure of bars and restaurants and students beyond third grade moving to distance learning.

"As coronavirus infections in Belgium continue to reach record highs, authorities ordered the closure of the country’s cultural facilities on Saturday and announced a longer curfew beginning Monday..... 

"In Greece, authorities imposed a nightly curfew Saturday in the Athens area and in other regions of the country with high infection rates and made it mandatory to wear face masks indoors and outdoors."

https://www.voanews.com/covid-19-pandemic/new-lockdowns-europe-amid-coronavirus-resurgence

Nation with strictest lockdown has most deaths

by George J. Dance

Which country has the most deaths per capita from (or with) COVID-19? The current frontrunner is San Marino, with 42 deaths in a population of 33,000 for a death toll of 1,237 deaths per million (1,237/M). That figure is actually exceeded by four U.S. states – New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut – but, those not being countries, none of them appear on the world index.  

As for countries with at least 1 million inhabitants, the highest death toll belongs to Peru. In a population of 33 million (roughly the same as Canada), Peru as of September 1 has suffered over 29,000 casualties, for a death rate of 880/M. Yet Peru had one of the strictest lockdowns in the world. Nor did it lock down "too late" (as lockdown advocates claim about Britain), or reopen "too early" (as they claim about the United States). 

Peru's government locked down the country on March 16 (before New York or California), when there were less than a hundred cases and zero deaths. Its lockdown was one of the strictest in the world. Most residents were allowed to leave home only to buy food or receive medical attention. The country's borders were closed, and Lima's international airport shut down. Private vehicles were banned from the streets, and masks were made made mandatory in public.  The government also imposed an 8 p.m. curfew, and actively arrested violators.  

The lockdown was an immediate success, politically. President Martin Vizcarra's approval rating, which was 52% in an Ipsos Peru poll on March 15, shot up 35 points to 87% in a follow-up poll a week later. The lockdown and curfew were even more popular than the president, with approval ratings of 95% and 96% respectively. 

The lockdown was less successful economically. The country's Gross Domestic Product dropped 3.5% by the end of March (compared with 2019), and a staggering 30.2% by the end of July. Peru’s hospitality industry contracted almost 90%, construction by 67%, the retail sector by 45%, and the important mining industry by 35%. The number of officially employed plunged by almost 40% across the country, and by almost 50% in urban areas. 

Nor did the lockdown control the virus, with the official death count rising to 150 per day by April 27 and remaining above 150 ever since. The actual number of deaths could be far higher: BBC News reported in July that Peru's deaths from all causes between March 16 and May 31 were 87% higher than normal. That failure is not surprising; the claim that a lockdown can stop a virus (as opposed to just slowing it down) was always a stretch. Even in the strictest lockdown, essential workers are still circulating, catching and spreading the germ. And even the nonessential population has to be allowed out sometime, if only to buy food. In Peru, where 40% of households do not even have a refrigerator (never mind internet access), that meant in-person trips to the local market virtually daily. 

Markets predictably became, in Vizcarra's words, "the main sources of contagion." "We had markets with 40, 50, 80% of sellers infected," he told the BBC. "You would buy, you would get infected, you would go home with the virus, and you would spread it to the whole family." (According to the Peruvian National Household survey, 12% of the people live in overcrowded homes.) The government's attempt to solve the problem – limiting shopping hours – only made things worse by increasing crowding in the markets, says Peruvian social researcher Rolando Arellano.

Even the relief program the government set up to mitigate the lockdown's damage helped spread the coronavirus. With less than 40% of Peruvians having a bank account, digital payments were impossible, and massive lineups formed at the banks where the relief money was distributed.           

Hospitals were overwhelmed, giving rise to a thriving black market in oxygen as desperate people tried to nurse their relatives at home.

The state of emergency was planned to run until the end of August. However, by June 30, with the virus still slowly ripping through the population, and the economy near total collapse, the Vizcarra government began allowing some businesses to reopen (though full lockdowns were maintained in four states). The mining industry quickly bounced back, reaching pre-pandemic production levels by September. However, COVID-19 cases and then deaths also began ticking up, to which the government responded by cracking down again. A total Sabbath lockdown was imposed in August, and police and military began patrolling the cities on Sundays, arresting more than 1,000 people for simply being on the street.

On August 29, the Vizcarra government extended the state of emergency, along with the lockdowns and curfew, until the end of September. It is possible that cases and deaths will stop rising by then – both seem to fall off when about 20% of the population is infected, with or without a lockdown – in which case we will probably hear (as we heard for New York) that the lockdown worked after all. For now, though, the country's death toll looks headed toward New York levels. 

Sources (all accessed Sep. 2, 2020):

1. Pierina Pighi Bel and Jake Horton, "Coronavirus: What's happening in Peru," BBC News, July 9, 2020. 
2. "Martín Vizcarra turns 57 with an approval of 87%," La Republica, March 22, 2020. 
3. John Quigley, "Peru Leads Global Economic Crash With 30.2% Quarterly Drop," Bloomberg, August 20, 2020. 
4. John Quigley, "Peru Now World’s Deadliest Covid Hot Spot," Bloomberg, August 27, 2020.
5. Dave Lawler, "Peru now has world's highest coronavirus death rate," Axios, August 31, 2020. 
6. Simeon Tegel, "The country with the world's strictest lockdown is now the worst for excess deaths," The Telegraph, August 27, 2020.