Dutch hospital airlifts patients to Germany amid virus surge

ALMERE, Netherlands (AP) — A bright yellow helicopter rose into a blue sky Friday carrying a COVID-19 patient from the Netherlands to a German intensive care unit, the first such international airlift since the global pandemic first threatened to swamp Dutch hospitals in the spring.

The clatter of the helicopter's rotors as it lifted off from a parking lot behind the Flevohospital in Almere, 30 kilometers (20 miles) east of Amsterdam, was a noisy reminder of how the coronavirus is again gripping Europe and straining countries' health care systems.

In other cities across the continent, an absence of noise was set to underscore the extent of the resurgence of the virus as major cities from Rome to Paris rein in nightlife as part of the increasingly drastic measures nations are enforcing in an attempt to slow the spread of the pandemic.

In addition to the three overnight curfews declared early in the week by governors of Italian regions including Rome, Milan and Naples, the capital moved to make “nightlife” hours even shorter for young people who tend to hang out in trendy piazzas, carousing for hours without masks as they sip cocktails and knock down beers.

Rome’s populist Five-Star Movement mayor, Virginia Raggi, signed an ordinance putting off limits, until Nov. 13, several gathering spots highly popular for night-time drinking starting at 9 p.m. The crackdown covers landmark nocturnal hangouts including Campo de’ Fiori, a vast expanse in the heart of Rome that doubles as an open-air food market during the day, and Piazza Trilussa, a square near the Tiber River that is usually packed in the evening with rowdy drinkers.

A curfew imposed on Paris and other French cities last week was extended to 38 more regions starting Friday night. A four-and-a-half hour nightly curfew is to come into effect Saturday night...