According to a survey conducted in Europe in 2021, 77 percent of respondents in Denmark reported they trusted their government's main motivations behind the lockdown restrictions, the highest share among all European countries. On the other hand, 34 percent of respondents in Poland said they were suspicious of the motivations behind lockdown restrictions, while a further 27 percent thought lockdown restrictions were an excuse to control the public.

As of November 24, 2024 there were over 274 million confirmed cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) across the whole of Europe since the first confirmed cases in France in January 2020. France has been the worst affected country in Europe with 39,028,437 confirmed cases, followed by Germany with 38,437,756 cases. Italy and the UK have approximately 26.8 million and 25 million cases respectively. For further information about the coronavirus pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

IntroductionDuring the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, from March 1 to April 15, 2020, significant variations emerged among countries regarding the implementation of lockdown policies. During this period, viewed strictly from an epidemiological perspective, lockdown measures are considered the most effective means of containing a pandemic. However, the adoption of such measures varied, raising questions about whether the reluctance or failure of countries to implement lockdown policies reflected a disregard for epidemiological knowledge or stemmed from an inability to enforce these measures.MethodsThis article employs Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) with 26 European countries as case studies to investigate under what combination of conditions a country would implement lockdown policies.ResultsThe QCA results identify three distinct combinations of conditions that lead countries to implement lockdown measures. First, countries with relatively concentrated political power are more likely to implement lockdown policies. Among the 10 countries governed by a majority party or majority coalition within a two-party or moderate multi-party system, seven implemented lockdown policies. Second, in cases of relatively dispersed political power, countries facing state fragility risks are more likely to implement lockdown policies. Among the eight countries that meet both conditions, five implemented lockdown policies. Finally, factors such as political heritage, severity of the pandemic, demographic composition, healthcare access, quality standards, and the ruling party’s ideology play a lesser role in the decision to enact lockdown measures.DiscussionThis article offers a novel perspective on the dynamics of party politics and state capacity in the context of decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic. It contributes to a deeper understanding of the intricate relationship between political systems and public health crisis management, highlighting how various political and governance factors influence the adoption of public health interventions during crises.

Content

Covid-19 Data Europe provides coronavirus data of European countries , taken from worldometers and coronavirusgraphs . It includes number of total case, daily test, total test, daily case, daily death, total death, daily recovered, total recovered, population, elder rate, the day first case seen and lockdown/state of emergency for all countries in Europe. Dataset includes test data of all European countries except Andorra, Georgia, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City.

Throughout Europe, many nations saw shares of wind and solar power in their energy mix increase during government imposed lockdowns to halt the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). The largest share was experienced in Denmark at 65 percent, up from 57 percent the previous year.

Wind and solar power accounted for 23 percent of electricity production in the EU-27 and UK during this period. In comparison, electricity generation from coal dropped significantly.

For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Fact and Figures page.

2020 coronavirus pandemic in Denmark

Update: Denmark becomes the second country in Europe to go on coronavirus lockdown

Background

According to WHO, Europe is now the 'epicenter' of the coronavirus pandemic. Among those EU countries, Denmark has attracted significant attention from other countries. Within two days, the confirmed cases jumped from 92 to 516. As of 15 March, among nations with at least one million citizens, Denmark has the world's sixth-highest per-capita rate of positive coronavirus cases at 144.3 cases per million people.

The Danish government has introduced stringent restrictions such as:

• From 14 March to 13 April, all Danish borders will be closed.

• Denmark's parliament has passed an emergency coronavirus law which gives health authorities powers to force testing, treatment a and quarantine with the backing of the police.

How to use it?

The dataset (by Mar.14) includes four columns: date, confirmed cases, increased percent by day, and deaths. It is a good source for data visualization or exploring different models of disease transmission, such as exponential and logistic regression. To learn more about the exponential model, please watch this video which is short enough but well explained.

Source:

Danish Health Authority (Sundhedsstyrelsen)

During the first weeks of lockdown in Europe, the consumption of residential heating energy grew considerably. Italy and Spain reported an increase of over ** percent in households' heating energy consumption compared to the same month the previous year. The European average was an increase of ** percent.

To be or not to be quarantined? That is the question posed by COVID-19 pandemic to almost every resident in the world. Approximately three months after the first application of the COVID-19 lockdown to residents in 17 Asian, African, European, American, and Oceanian countries, we carried out a cross-national survey of 26,293 residents via online platforms such as Sojump and Prolific.

Number of visits categorized by emergency code.

Since the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown, there has been a noticeable reduction in the amount of nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter emissions throughout Europe. During April 2020, the decrease in emissions is estimated to have helped to avoid thousands of deaths across Europe, with Germany avoiding over 2,000 deaths due to reduced air pollution.

For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Fact and Figures page.

Several urban landscape planning solutions have been introduced around the world to find a balance between developing urban spaces, maintaining and restoring biodiversity, and enhancing quality of human life. Our global mini-review, combined with analysis of big data collected from Google Trends at global scale, reveals the importance of enjoying day-to-day contact with nature and engaging in such activities as nature observation and identification and gardening for the mental well-being of humans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Home-based activities, such as watching birds from one’s window, identifying species of plants and animals, backyard gardening, and collecting information about nature for citizen science projects, were popular during the first lockdown in spring 2020, when people could not easily venture out of their homes. In our mini-review, we found 37 articles from 28 countries with a total sample of 114,466 people. These papers suggest that home-based engagement with nature was an entertaining and pleasant distraction that helped preserve mental well-being during a challenging time. According to Google Trends, interest in such activities increased during lockdown compared to the previous five years. Millions of people worldwide are chronically or temporarily confined to their homes and neighborhoods because of illness, childcare chores, or elderly care responsibility, which makes it difficult for them to travel far to visit such places as national parks, created through land sparing, where people go to enjoy nature and relieve stress. This article posits that for such people, living in an urban landscape designed to facilitate effortless contact with small natural areas is a more effective way to receive the mental health benefits of contact with nature than visiting a sprawling nature park on rare occasions. Methods 1. Identifying the most common types of activities related to nature observation, gardening, and taxa identification during the first lockdown based on scientific articles and non-scientific press For scientific articles, in March 2023 we searched Scopus and Google Scholar. For countries where Google is restricted, such as China, similar results will be available from other scientific browsers, with the highest number of results from our database being available from Scopus. We used the Google Search browser to search for globally published non-scientific press articles. Some selection criteria were applied during article review. Specifically, we excluded articles that were not about the first lockdown; did not study activities at a local scale (from balcony, window, backyard) but rather in areas far away from home (e.g., visiting forests); studied the mental health effect of observing indoor potted plants and pet animals; or transiently mentioned the topic or keyword without going into any scientific detail. We included all papers that met our criteria, that is, studies that analyzed our chosen topic with experiments or planned observations. We included all research papers, but not letters that made claims without any data. Google Scholar automatically screened the title, abstract, keywords, and the whole text of each article for the keywords we entered. All articles that met our criteria were read and double-checked for keywords and content related to the keywords (e.g., synonyms or if they presented content about the relevant topic without using the specific keywords). We identified, from both types of articles, the major nature-based activities that people engaged in during the first lockdown in the spring of 2020. Keywords used in this study were grouped into six main topics: (1) COVID-19 pandemic; (2) nature-oriented activity focused on nature observation, identification of different taxa, or gardening; (3) mental well-being; (4) activities performed from a balcony, window, or in gardens; (5) entertainment; and (6) citizen science (see Table 1 for all keywords). 2. Increase in global trends in interest in nature observation, gardening, and taxa identification during the first lockdown We used the categorical cluster method, which was combined with big data from Google Trends (downloaded on 1 September 2020) and anomaly detection to identify trend anomalies globally in peoples’ interests. We used this combination of methods to examine whether interest in nature-based activities that were mentioned in scientific and nonscientific press articles increased during the first lockdown. Keywords linked with the main types of nature-oriented activities, as identified from press and scientific articles, and used according to the categorical clustering method were classified into the following six main categories: (1) global interest in bird-watching and bird identification combined with citizen science; (2) global interest in plant identification and gardening combined with citizen science; (3) global interest in butterfly watching, (4) local interest in early-spring (lockdown time), summer, or autumn flowering species that usually can be found in Central European (country: Poland) backyards; (5) global interest in traveling and social activities; and (6) global interest in nature areas and activities typically enjoyed during holidays and thus requiring traveling to land-spared nature reserves. The six categories were divided into 15 subcategories so that we could attach relevant words or phrases belonging to the same cluster and typically related to the activity (according to Google Trends and Google browser’s automatic suggestions; e.g., people who searched for “bird-watching” typically also searched for “binoculars,” “bird feeder,” “bird nest,” and “birdhouse”). The subcategories and keywords used for data collection about trends in society’s interest in the studied topic from Google Trends are as follows.

Bird-watching: “binoculars,” “bird feeder,” “bird nest,” “birdhouse,” “bird-watching”; Bird identification: “bird app,” “bird identification,” “bird identification app,” “bird identifier,” “bird song app”; Bird-watching combined with citizen science: “bird guide,” “bird identification,” “eBird,” “feeding birds,” “iNaturalist”; Citizen science and bird-watching apps: “BirdNET,” “BirdSong ID,” “eBird,” “iNaturalist,” “Merlin Bird ID”; Gardening: “gardening,” “planting,” “seedling,” “seeds,” “soil”; Shopping for gardening: “garden shop,” “plant buy,” “plant ebay,” “plant sell,” “plant shop”; Plant identification apps: “FlowerChecker,” “LeafSnap,” “NatureGate,” “Plantifier,” “PlantSnap”; Citizen science and plant identification: “iNaturalist,” “plant app,” “plant check,” “plant identification app,” “plant identifier”; Flowers that were flowering in gardens during lockdown in Poland: “fiołek” (viola), “koniczyna” (shamrock), “mlecz” (dandelion), “pierwiosnek” (primose), “stokrotka” (daisy). They are typical early-spring flowers growing in the gardens in Central Europe. We had to be more specific in this search because there are no plant species blooming across the world at the same time. These plant species have well-known biology; thus, we could easily interpret these results; Flowers that were not flowering during lockdown in Poland: “chaber” (cornflower), “mak” (poppy), “nawłoć” (goldenrod), “róża” (rose), “rumianek” (chamomile). They are typical mid-summer flowering plants often planted in gardens; Interest in traveling long distances and in social activities that involve many people: “airport,” “bus,” “café,” “driving,” “pub”; Single or mass commuting, and traveling: “bike,” “boat,” “car,” “flight,” “train”; Interest in distant places and activities for visiting natural areas: “forest,” “nature park,” “safari,” “trekking,” “trip”; Places and activities for holidays (typically located far away): “coral reef,” “rainforest,” “safari,” “savanna,” “snorkeling”; Butterfly watching: “butterfly watching,” “butterfly identification,” “butterfly app,” “butterfly net,” “butterfly guide”;

In Google Trends, we set the following filters: global search, dates: July 2016–July 2020; language: English.

Although some studies have been conducted on gambling behaviour in the general population or in clinical samples during the COVID-19 pandemic, less attention has been focused on Affected Family Members (AFMs) of disordered gamblers. To fill this gap, this study investigated the psychological state of disordered gamblers' AFMs during the COVID-19 lockdown in Italy, the European country first affected by the virus and with the largest gambling market. We were interested in understanding if the unavailability of most land-based gambling offerings during the lockdown created a sense of relief in AFMs. We also compared the quality of family relationships and emotional state during the lockdown of AFMs with those of their relative with Gambling Disorder (GD). Participants were 53 disordered gamblers' AFMs (77% female; mean age = 50.28). For 42 out of the 53 AFMs, we also recruited their relative with GD (86% male; mean age = 48.98). A semi-structured telephone interview was developed. Although AFMs reported a general interruption of the relative's gambling behaviour and a general sense of relief for the closure of gambling activities, accompanied by the perception of good family relationships, AFMs still felt tired, worried, and apprehensive and perceived more fear, stress, and anxiety than before the lockdown. A large proportion of AFMs engaged in potentially addictive behaviours, especially TV and mobile phone and Internet use, which increased in frequency compared to before the pandemic. They still perceived some gambling-related problematic behaviours from their relative and put in place coping strategies to manage the gambling problem. Even if they had a general positive orientation towards the future, they experienced fear when thinking about the reopening of gambling opportunities at the end of the lockdown. Compared to their relatives with GD, AFMs appeared more prone to perceiving a general negative state and a worsening of it from before the lockdown. Overall, this study shows that disordered gambling's AFMs can be considered as a particularly at-risk group who deserves focused clinical attention even during gambling closures related to pandemic lockdown.

Abstract Background Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic had a huge impact on patients and healthcare systems. A decline in paediatric visits to healthcare settings was observed, which might have been due to lower incidence of injury and infectious illness, changes in healthcare services and parental concern. The aim of our study was to examine parental experiences of help-seeking for, and care of, a sick or injured child during COVID-19 lockdown periods in five European countries with different healthcare systems in place. Methods An online survey for parents with a child with any kind or illness of injury during COVID-19 lockdowns was circulated through social media in five European countries: Italy, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Parents living in one of these countries with self-identification of a sick or injured child during COVID-19 lockdown periods were eligible to fill in the survey. Descriptive statistics were used for the level of restrictions per country, children’s characteristics, family characteristics and reported help-seeking behaviour of parents prior to the lockdown and their real experience during the lockdown. The free text data was subjected to thematic analysis. Results The survey was fully completed by 598 parents, ranging from 50 to 198 parents per country, during varying lockdown periods from March 2020 until May 2022. Parents who completed the survey were not deterred from seeking medical help for their sick or injured child during the COVID-19 pandemic. This finding was comparable in five European countries with different healthcare systems in place. Thematic analysis identified three main areas: parental experiences of access to healthcare, changes in parents’ help-seeking behaviours for a sick or injured child during lockdowns, and the impact of caring for a sick or injured child during the lockdowns. Parents reported limited access to non-urgent care services and were anxious about either their child or themselves catching COVID-19. Conclusion This insight into parental perspectives of help-seeking behaviour and care for a sick or injured child during COVID-19 lockdowns could inform future strategies to improve access to healthcare, and to provide parents with adequate information concerning when and where to seek help and support during pandemics.

A survey carried out in European countries during the 2020 Coronavirus lockdown asked festival-goers about their opinion on live music streams. Sixty percent claimed to have had already watched at least *** live music stream during lockdown while ** percent said they would happily pay to do so, either through ticket purchase or donations.

Ophthalmological emergency department leading diagnoses categorized by period and ICD-9-CM.

This collection contains photographs of ad-hoc, local, and/or temporary commemoration of the Covid-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland and Ireland in July 2022. It covers plaques, memorials, religious sites, and murals. The photographs cover republican and unionist communities, in Belfast, Londonderry/Derry, Donaghdee, and Dublin.

The data was collected as part of the broader project: “The Challenge of Mass Deaths for Social Order in a Transnational Context: Experiencing COVID-19”, which studied death as, tragically, the central characteristic of the Covid-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom and abroad. It understood Covid-19 deaths as, in addition to private family tragedies, a political event with important implications for collective memory and social order. In particular, the study examined how ideas of time – of “timeliness” of decisions/deaths, of the meaning of a “lifetime”, of differential experiences of waiting and urgency/emergency – produced different experiences of pandemic death and grief. More precisely, the study did three things. First, it looked at how ideas of time were important to framing mass Covid-19 deaths as inevitable (or not) in three European countries, showing that “inevitability” was a matter of politics, rather than scale of death. Second, it looked at how the “pause” of Covid-19 lockdown interrupted the daily rhythms of life in Northern Ireland/Ireland, with local practices of ad-hoc Covid-19 commemoration demonstrating evidence of important, if brief, cross-community solidarity. (This is the aim to which the data contained here was collected). Third, and finally, the project looked at practices of body repatriation, a tragic but important and often-invisible form of transnational cooperation that upholds international social order and works to provide timely individual dignity in death.

“The Challenge of Mass Deaths for Social Order in a Transnational Context: Experiencing COVID-19” studied death as, tragically, the central characteristic of the Covid-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom and abroad. It understood Covid-19 deaths as, in addition to private family tragedies, a political event with important implications for collective memory and social order. In particular, the study examined how ideas of time – of “timeliness” of decisions/deaths, of the meaning of a “lifetime”, of differential experiences of waiting and urgency/emergency – produced different experiences of pandemic death and grief. More precisely, the study did three things. First, it looked at how ideas of time were important to framing mass Covid-19 deaths as inevitable (or not) in three European countries, showing that “inevitability” was a matter of politics, rather than scale of death. Second, it looked at how the “pause” of Covid-19 lockdown interrupted the daily rhythms of life in Northern Ireland/Ireland, with local practices of ad-hoc Covid-19 commemoration demonstrating evidence of important, if brief, cross-community solidarity. Third, and finally, the project looked at practices of body repatriation, a tragic but important and often-invisible form of transnational cooperation that upholds international social order and works to provide timely individual dignity in death.

Number of visits categorized by age.

Stringent COVID-19 public health and social measures (PHSMs) have challenged the work of animal health professionals, especially in the early phase of the pandemic. We aimed to qualitatively describe how COVID-19 PHSMs have affected the surveillance and control of African swine fever (ASF) in Europe, assess how professionals engaged in these activities perceived the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, and identify potential areas of improvement. An online questionnaire was proposed via email between 9 December 2020 and 22 January 2021 to professionals engaged in ASF-related activities in Europe and Eastern neighboring countries. The questionnaire contained questions pertaining to ASF surveillance and control activities between March and May 2020, respondent's perception of the impact of COVID-19 PHSMs on these activities, and respondent's opinion on potential improvements to prepare FOR future crises. Economic and sanitary variables were used to describe the national contexts over the study period. Twenty-seven respondents from 24 countries participated to the study. Essential activities related to surveillance and management of ASF were reduced and/or adapted but maintained in most surveyed countries. Communication was mentioned as the first area of improvement during crisis while maintenance of efficient veterinary services and surveillance activities were cited second and third top priorities. The need for the development of remote procedures was also recognized. Some respondents highlighted difficulties in ensuring biosecurity and biosafety of the field actors due to shortage in protective equipment. Only a small majority (52%) of the survey participants agreed that their institution/working group is better prepared to future lockdown-type situations. Our study emphasizes that short-term measures were globally successful to tackle the immediate impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on the routine duties of professionals involved in ASF surveillance and control. Our findings suggest that country-specific improvements are necessary to support and advance the preparedness of the actors involved in infectious animal disease surveillance and control in case lockdown-like measures are implemented. Overall, our results highlight the crucial importance of recognizing animal health services as essential activities during crisis.

As of June 2020 during COVID-19 lockdowns, ** percent of online multiplayer gamers in select European countries reported that playing video games has helped them to stay connected with friends. In comparison, only ** percent of all players reported the same thing. On average, online multiplayer gamers reported that they benefited more from playing video games during lockdown than general gaming audiences.

Data by country.