LONDON -- Demonstrators took to the streets of London, Tel Aviv and other cities Saturday to protest coronavirus restrictions, decrying how the measures have affected daily life, even with infection rates rising in many places and the global death toll approaching 1 million.
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In the U.K., the latest official estimates released Friday showed that new infections and hospital admissions have been doubling every seven to eight days. Britain has Europe's highest death toll since the start of the pandemic, with more than 41,800 confirmed virus-related deaths.
The government recently banned social gatherings of more than six people in the hopes that it would help reverse a steep rise in covid-19 cases and suggested that tougher restrictions could be coming.
Saturday's protest in Trafalgar Square, which was themed "Resist and Act for Freedom," ended in clashes between demonstrators and London police, as officers tried to disperse hundreds of people holding banners and placards scrawled with anti-restriction messages such as "This is now Tyranny."
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has warned that the city may add curfews, force pubs to close earlier and ban household visits to try to limit the city's sharp rise in new cases.
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"I am extremely concerned by the latest evidence I've seen today from public health experts about the accelerating speed at which covid-19 is now spreading here in London," Khan said Friday. "It is increasingly likely that, in London, additional measures will soon be required to slow the spread of the virus."
In Israel, meanwhile, authorities ordered a full lockdown that began Friday and coincided with the Jewish High Holidays, which are typically celebrated with family gatherings and large prayer services.
Demonstrators in swimsuits gathered on a beach in Tel Aviv and waved black and pink flags connoting various protest movements.
In Australia, about 100 protesters gathered in the Melbourne beachside suburb of Elwood on Saturday before being scattered by police. It came despite state Premier Daniel Andrews urging anti-lockdown protesters not to gather.
Police in the region have tried to dissuade lockdown opponents from protesting, but the rallies have become routine. The Victoria police said in a news release that "the behaviour of these selfish few who choose to blatantly ignore the directions will not be tolerated."
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HARSH RHETORIC
In Romania's capital, Bucharest, several hundred people protested against virus restrictions, including the mandatory use of masks in schools. About 2.8 million children in Romania began the school year Monday and schools took various precautions to try to prevent outbreaks.
Romania is among the countries that has had a new spike in confirmed cases, including a national daily record of 1,713 cases earlier in the week and 1,333 more Saturday. In all, Romania has had 111,550 confirmed cases of covid-19 and 4,402 deaths.
Protesters at Bucharest's University Square chanted against President Klaus Iohannis and Prime Minister Ludovic Orban and drew parallels between the protective measures against the pandemic and the communist and Nazi regimes. One of the speakers at the rally compared the measures to the torture of dissidents under communism.
A large sign carried by a protester included a recent quote from Iohannis about the safety measures -- "Kids easily get used to unpleasant things" -- above a photograph of children behind barbed-wire fences at a concentration camp.
Protesters also highlighted the symbolism of holding the rally at University Square, where protests in 1989 against dictator Nicolae Ceausescu led to the fall of his communist regime.
Only police and members of the media wore masks at the event, where participants, many carrying Romanian flags, did not respect social distancing rules either.
The language and comparisons echoed that of protesters at rallies in dozens of U.S. cities earlier in the pandemic, including some who successfully pressured governors and local officials into lifting restrictions on businesses and social activities.
Experts have said some state authorities gave up on the restrictions too quickly, allowing the virus to continue spreading this summer in parts of the country that didn't experience the full force of the pandemic early in the year.
As of Saturday, Johns Hopkins University reported just over 199,000 deaths in the U.S. since the start of the pandemic and 6.7 million confirmed cases.
AIRPORT TESTING
In Japan, the government plans to set up testing for the novel coronavirus at regional airports handling international flights.
The plan, to be launched at Chubu Airport in Aichi Prefecture, Fukuoka Airport in Fukuoka City and New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido, envisions a testing capacity of several hundred travelers entering the country per day at each of the three airports.
Equipment for conducting antigen tests, which uses saliva as a sample, will be installed at the three airports, and areas will be set aside for collecting samples and waiting for test results. The idea is to make the procedure as smooth as possible from the time the traveler arrives in the country and takes the test to the time they leave the airport.
Facilities to accommodate those who test positive will be prepared near the airports as well.
India has maintained its surge in coronavirus cases, adding 93,337 new confirmed infections in the past 24 hours.
The Health Ministry on Saturday raised the nation's caseload to more than 5.3 million out of the nearly 1.4 billion people. It said 1,247 more people died in the past 24 hours for a total of 85,619. The country has over a million active cases with a recovery rate of about 80%.
India has been reporting the highest single-day rise in the world every day for more than five weeks. It's expected to become the pandemic's worst-hit country within weeks, surpassing the United States.
Australia's death toll rose to 844 on Saturday with 21 more cases and seven fatalities in Victoria state. The hardest-hit Victoria has had 757 deaths. Its capital city of Melbourne, with a population of 5 million, has been in lockdown for a month and faces nightly curfews in an effort to stem the increases.
It appears to be working. The city has a 14-day new-case average of 39.3, well below the state's target of 50, despite a few clusters of cases in several southeastern suburbs.
OKTOBERFEST ADAPTS
In Germany, Oktoberfest celebrations got underway Saturday in Munich with the traditional tapping of a keg and the cry of "O'zapft is!" -- "It's tapped!" -- but this year's festival is nontraditional and highly regulated due to coronavirus concerns.
The official Oktoberfest has been canceled, so there's no huge tents full of people or hundreds of stands selling food. Instead, 50 of the southern German city's beer halls and other establishments are hosting smaller parties that follow guidelines on mask wearing, social distancing and other restrictions.
Former Mayor Christian Ude got the party started, hammering a tap into a 5-gallon keg -- a tenth of the size of the Oktoberfest norm -- at the Schillerbraeu beer hall while dressed in Bavarian lederhosen -- leather pants -- and wearing a mask.
Meantime, police patrolled the regular festival grounds to make sure no spontaneous parties broke out.
The loss of Oktoberfest is a huge hit for the Bavarian city, which saw 6.3 million guests flood in last year for the festival's 186th year. They were served about 15.5 million pints of beer over 16 days and consumed 124 oxen, among other traditional foods.
This year's toned-down celebrations run through Oct. 4.
Information for this article was contributed by Sylvia Hui and Vadim Ghirda of The Associated Press; and by The Japan News.
