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Several countries in Europe are now tightening measures against the coronavirus pandemic and in an effort to curb the further spreading of the disease.

According to Xinhua, both Germany and France saw their infection tallies hit new single-day highs on Thursday. The UK, Poland, the Netherlands, Austria, Croatia and Lithuania have all reported new daily records since pandemic began

Germany’s Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the federal government agency for disease control and prevention, announced on Thursday that Covid-19 infections in the country increased by a record 11,287 within one day, pushing the total to 392,049.

“The situation overall has become very serious,” said RKI President Lothar Wieler at a press conference. “At present, we still have a chance to slow down the further spread of the virus.”

The death toll in Germany rose by 30 to 9,905 on Thursday, according to the RKI. Wieler stressed that it had to be assumed that there would be more serious cases and deaths caused by COVID-19 in Germany.

The situation in France is also worrisome. The country’s Public Health Agency on Thursday evening reported 41,661 new COVID-19 infections in the last 24 hours. The overall tally now stands at 999,043. More than 34,000 have died.

As a result, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced that starting from Friday midnight, curfews from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. will be extended to 38 more departments and the overseas territory of Polynesia.

About 46 million of France’s 67 million residents are now requested to stay indoors at night.

In Italy, the first European country hit by the pandemic, over 21.7 million people, making up over one-third of the country’s population, have been placed under curfew.

On Thursday, the country reported 13,860 new cases and 136 fatalities, which took the overall infection tally and death toll to 465,726 and 36,968, respectively.

Greece also announced additional stricter restrictive measures to combat the pandemic, as a new daily high of 882 cases was reported.

A curfew is imposed from 12.30 a.m. until 5 a.m. and the use of face masks will be mandatory everywhere indoors and outdoors.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson reiterated his stand to avoid a national lockdown in fighting against the pandemic, saying his government will work hard to protect jobs and put the country in a better position for an economic recovery.

The UK has so far reported a total of 813,451 coronavirus cases and 44,437 deaths.

Officials in Ireland has placed the country under a nationwide lockdown again.

All the people in the country are required to stay within 5 km of their homes except those who have to go to workplace or school or who have to leave home for some other special purposes such as buying food and visiting pharmacies or hospitals.