Governments across Europe have introduced more restrictions to combat the spread of COVID-19, with a combination of nationwide and specific regional measures and curfews imposed as the continent faces its "second wave."

面对“第二波疫情”的来袭，欧洲各国政府采取了包括宵禁在内的面向全国和特定地区的更多限制措施以阻止新冠病毒的传播。

The number of globally recorded coronavirus cases passed 40 million on Monday, according to Johns Hopkins University, and while more than half of those cases come from the US, India and Brazil, an increasing proportion of new daily recorded cases are emerging from Europe.

In total, over 7 million cases have been recorded in Europe since the start of the pandemic, according to the European Center for Disease Control, with 241,291 deaths.

After new restrictions were imposed in several countries earlier this month, Switzerland has followed Italy in imposing a nationwide mask mandate in all public spaces from Monday.

While not as restrictive as previous measures imposed when Italy faced a severe COVID surge earlier in the pandemic, local mayors have been given the power to close piazzas and streets from 9 pm and bars and restaurants must shut by midnight.

Ireland's government has announced that, starting Wednesday, it is returning the country to a full-scale lockdown for six weeks, reinstating restrictions close to those that were in place in the spring at the height of the first wave of the pandemic.

The new lockdown will raise restrictions from Level 3 to Level 5, banning all house visits, closing all but essential retail stores, and requiring people to stay within a 5-kilometer radius of their homes.

In the UK, the four nations of Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland retain the power to set their own "lockdown" measures. In England a three-tier system remains in place, with varying restrictions imposed depending on whether an area is on "medium," "high" or "very high" alert.