What's happening in the rest of the world now?

[DaughterOfEvilReindeer]

As numbers continue to rise our media is of course focussed on the UK and I've lost track of what is happening in other countries. Are they all experiencing a rise in cases? How are they being managed?

Canaries here. Tenerife to be exact. Restrictions of only groups of 4 people max to a table in bars/restaurants/in your home.
Smoking has been banned on all outside terraces. The only place you can smoke really is in your own home.
Curfew from 11pm til 6am so bars and restaurants are closing around 10pm. The curfew was only meant to be for a week, it's just been extended for another 7 days which we knew was coming due to our "high number of cases"
Christmas tourism killed as we are back on uk quarantine list as of 4am Saturday.

Oh and masks mandatory everywhere. The only place you can take it off is sitting at a table to eat

That’s interesting about the smoking.

I’ve walked passed smokers and occasionally wondered if I should try and avoid breathing in the smoke that’s been exhaled

Are there still masks and social distancing?

Not at all. Masks were never required, other than on public transport for a short while, and on planes, and social distancing disappeared once we were out of any form of lockdown. I wore a mask to visit a hospital when we were in a light lockdown, but I haven't worn one since (despite visiting my DF in hospital several times).

Masks are obligatory pretty much everywhere in France.

It’s winter in Northern Europe so it shouldn’t be a surprise that cases are rising - it was always going to happen

So is the difference between Europe and AuStraliA and NZ just down to it being different sessionsy then?

*seasons

Australia must surely have the significant advantage of it not being flu season there?

@OverTheRainbow88

That’s interesting about the smoking.

I’ve walked passed smokers and occasionally wondered if I should try and avoid breathing in the smoke that’s been exhaled

At one point there was a theory that nicotine reduced the severity of symptoms and may even offer protection against catching it. I'm guessing that was debunked.

In Malaysia we are well into our second wave. The government had the whole country under "CMCO" to try and curb the second wave but practically all it meant was that schools and children's play areas were shut and travel between states was restricted. It hasn't seemed to make that much difference to cases. CMCO is ended now but for economic rather than health reasons.

Our second wave started in prisons and spread because of an election in one of the states and travel not being restricted early enough, imo. I expect we'll pick down again in the new year. The economy would not be able to handle a proper lockdown though so I don't think it will be that effective.

Having said all that our second wave figures are a lot less than many places in the world - around 1,000 new cases a day and single digits for deaths per day. They need to be that level though else the health system won't cope. As it is I'm sure hospitals in the state where the outbreak is worst are full to bursting.

Australia and NZ closed their borders very quickly and strictly at the start and have had strict quarantines in place. Any cases they’ve had be had have been minimal and quickly acted on when discovered.
Nowhere like Europe, USA etc numbers and where cases were left to grow and spread early days.

That’s why they can live pretty normally.

Australia must surely have the significant advantage of it not being flu season there?

Australia had its flu season while the UK was in summer

Australia managed covid extremely well from
Day 1. Whilst they shut down their borders we (England) were still allowing flights in from all over the world without even checking their temp.
They have a very strict arrival procedure, we just trust people to self isolate for 2 weeks...!

I wish I was in Australia.

Cyprus here. You have to wear masks everywhere.

DH got stopped the other day because you even have to wear one when other people from the same household are in the car with you. He was doing the school run.

From today were almost in lockdown again until Dec 31st. Some shops still open, my DC still at school but all hospitality industry venues, shopping Malls and sports venues etc are closed.

That's crazy that you should wear masks in a car with your household

Melbourne, Australia. We have been at zero cases for a month now but it came at an enormous price. We had exponential virus growth in cases after a soft lockdown in March. Five visitors were allowed to the home, schools remained open but that was it. It absolutely failed due to quarantine breeches and it ran rampant in schools.
We ended up with over 7 months with everything closed. Worked from home, no visitors at all, schools closed. Unable to leave the home further than 5 k. I could go on.
It was brutal, but it worked. I understand that the Australian landscape is much different to the UK though. It is not perhaps not practical in the UK or US.

@Diana22

Melbourne, Australia. We have been at zero cases for a month now but it came at an enormous price. We had exponential virus growth in cases after a soft lockdown in March. Five visitors were allowed to the home, schools remained open but that was it. It absolutely failed due to quarantine breeches and it ran rampant in schools. We ended up with over 7 months with everything closed. Worked from home, no visitors at all, schools closed. Unable to leave the home further than 5 k. I could go on. It was brutal, but it worked. I understand that the Australian landscape is much different to the UK though. It is not perhaps not practical in the UK or US.

That is what the UK did over the summer and it was more under control for a while, but then flu season happened.

I.e. Australia hasn't faced a second flu season yet

Half We're just into summer. It's not flu time really.

I’m in Australia as well (another South Australian.)

I disagree that it’s normal here. There’s still social distancing and restrictions on numbers in pubs, cafes and restaurants. The state government has just upped numbers in cinemas and theatres but masks will be mandatory. Crazy when there are zero cases here. I see more and more people wearing masks just walking down the street. There was talk at one stage of making spectators watching cricket at the Adelaide oval in the middle of summer wear masks

Wish we could have proper normal with no social distancing like New Zealand has. Also wish Australians could visit New Zealand without quarantine. Both countries have no known cases outside quarantine so who knows what’s taking so long.

@FortunesFave

Half We're just into summer. It's not flu time really.

Yes exactly, it's great that things are going so well and long may it last, but things were looking up here too until we got into the Autumn.

This is really interesting. Anyone in Turkey? The situation doesn't look great there.

Sydney based here. I think the key was having super strict quarantine for all international arrivals from early on (my parents arrived from abroad in March and had to quarantine at home but a couple of weeks later they’d have had compulsory hire quarantine), closing state borders so people weren’t spreading the virus from one region to another, having strict hotel quarantine between states, and effective track and trace in most states. Those things in combination were really effective. It did however mean no international holidays (citizens and permanent residents can only leave the country in very specific circumstances and must get a border clearance from the government), no visits by our immediate family (dh’s) overseas and no visits to immediate family (mine) interstate until the past week or two when the state borders opened. People have been fairly compliant with the rules but there are also far fewer people in a much larger space and we are on an island that effectively shut its borders, so the challenges weren’t the same.

BLuetongue well my normal is not normal...so to me it's normal! :D I work from home anyway and lead a quiet life. I don't go to any sports events or restaurants generally...no pubs either. So as long as I can go about without a mask (though I would if I had to) and visit the shops then I think life's normal.

Hall yes...well, we won't have a vaccine here until early next year either. So we'll just have to hope.