Tourists facing restrictions amid fears of new Coronavirus spikes

Madrid: From the palm-fringed beaches of southern India to the bar-lined streets of a Spanish island and the rolling hills of Ireland, restaurants, pubs and clubs are emerging as front lines in efforts to prevent the re-emergence of the Coronavirus.

With Europe's summer vacation season kicking into high gear for millions weary of months of lockdown, scenes of drunken British and German tourists on Spain's Mallorca island ignoring social distancing rules and reports of American visitors flouting quarantine measures in Ireland raised fears of a resurgence of infections in countries that have battled for months to flatten the COVID-19 curve.

Germany's foreign minister condemned the rowdy tourists for imperiling hard-won gains in efforts to contain the virus.

We just recently managed to open the borders again in Europe. We cannot risk this by reckless behavior, Heiko Maas told Funke Media Group. Otherwise, new measures will be inevitable.

Meanwhile, in the United States, Florida reached another ominous record with 156 virus deaths reported Thursday as the state continued to experience a swift rise in cases. The state Department of Health reported 13,965 new Coronavirus cases, bringing the total to nearly 316,000.

And Brazil, which hit at least 75,000 confirmed deaths Wednesday was poised to report 2 million confirmed cases Thursday evening. The country has recorded more than 1,000 daily deaths on average in a gruesome plateau that has yet to tilt downward.

Also Thursday, the Boy Scouts of America announced it was postponing next year's National Jamboree in West Virginia, citing concerns about the Coronavirus pandemic. The increasing number of cases and the pandemic's persistence and unpredictability made it impossible for the Boy Scouts to comply with its Be Prepared motto, according to an announcement on the organization's website.

In a move designed to stop the spread of the Coronavirus and shake off Mallorca's reputation as a party hub, regional authorities ordered the closure Thursday of all establishments along Beer Street and Ham Street, as the popular party areas near the beach of Palma de Mallorca are known, and on another boulevard in nearby Magaluf.

Bar owners reacted angrily to the restrictions on the islands that have seen, like most regions in Spain, recent spikes in infections. Bars and nightclubs employ some 20,000 people in the region.

They are undertaking drastic measures that are typical of other countries, closing entire streets and curtailing the free exercise of private initiative, Jes s S nchez, who leads a local business association told The Associated Press. He blamed clandestine parties for some of the images of tourists ignoring virus containment measures.

At a solemn service in Madrid, relatives of about 100 COVID-19 victims sat socially distanced with representatives of health workers and other vital professions and with Spain's king and queen to pay tribute to the dead and those fighting the pandemic.